


The Big Moments are Gonna Come (You Can't Help That)

by Falln_Grce



Category: Glee
Genre: Acceptance, Bad friends everybody else, Child Abandonment, Do-Over, F/M, Good Parent Burt Hummel, Good dad Puck, Good friend Kurt, M/M, Moving In Together, Rejection, Slow Burn, baby beth
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-22
Updated: 2019-11-12
Packaged: 2020-12-28 10:23:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 28,469
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21135170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Falln_Grce/pseuds/Falln_Grce
Summary: A re-do of Season 1 where Kurt and Noah became friends. With a support system in place at the Hummel's, Puck's life turns in a different direction once the babygate news is spread around the school.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Slow burn with Kurt/Noah at first. Chapter 1 sets the scene for everything, but the remaining chapters will see them growing through hardships.

It started with a job. Or, it could’ve been that it started with a pregnancy, and the reality of the baby needing things that cost money led to the need for a job.

Or it could’ve started with getting plastered one night and making a huge mistake with Quinn. There were a hundred different points in time that Noah could’ve started with. At the end of the day, they all led to the exact same place he was right in that moment: knocking on Kurt Hummel’s door and getting ready to beg and plead for a job.

Except it wasn’t Kurt who answered the door.

“Can I help you?”

“Uh… yes, um. Yes, Sir….” Noah stammered. He’d been expecting the little diva, not his father. He’d met Burt Hummel before, well sort of. But the man was as intimidating as he remembered. Noah might be a badass, he might be Puck. But that man was an OG if he ever met one.

An OG who didn’t look amused to see a kid in a mohawk standing on his front step.

“Um… is Kurt here?”

And that non-existent amusement seemed to recede even further with that question. This was not how Noah thought it was going to go. He could beg Kurt for a job, Kurt wouldn’t judge him. Not really.

They’d come to some sort of truce recently. Nothing spoken, of course. But Kurt seemed more relaxed around him now, less bitchy. And they’d actually had some conversations where ten minutes would go by, and neither one had insulted the other; just laughed about some random shit that one of them had thought of.

“Why are you looking for Kurt?” Burt asked with a dubious raise of his eyebrow and his arms slowly crossing over his chest.

“Oh my god, dad.” Kurt called out from behind the man with an award-winning dramatic sigh. “It’s Noah. I told you about him, remember? From school?”

“You don’t look like you’re in Glee.” Burt wasn’t budging, and Noah was about to start sweating. But he’d come to the Hummel house for a reason, and he really didn’t want to leave without knowing one way or another.

“Well, he is.” Kurt smacked his dad away from the door. “Stop being like that. Noah? Do you want to come in? We didn’t have plans today, did we? Dinner just went on the table if you’re hungry.”

Kurt ignored his dad’s look at the invite and the mention of _plans_, but the man didn’t say anything, so Noah figured it’d be fine.

“Actually, that sounds great.” He rubbed a hand along the back of his neck, feeling where the hair was getting a little too long and needing a trim. “Ma’s not really in the cooking mood so… yeah. Food sounds great.”

Which was how Noah found himself sitting at the Hummel’s dinner table over half an hour later, not having the excuse of eating once the plates were cleared, and trying to come up with an answer to Burt’s question about what brought him by. 

“Would it be okay if I talked to Kurt in private?” The dude was seriously good at the poker face.

Kurt got up and gestured for Noah to follow, “We can talk in my room,” before turning a nice shade of pink when his dad told them to keep the door open. But he only stopped for a moment, then opened the basement door and led them both down to his living space.

“So, what did you need?” Kurt asked. He was standing in front of the little couch, not looking like he was planning on sitting any time soon. So Noah mirrored that.

“Well, um,” he started. It was just as hard as he thought it would be. “So, I remembered you talking about how you work in your dad’s garage. And I was wondering, with the baby coming and all. Quinn’s been complaining about how babies cost money, and they do. She’s right. So I need to kind of make that happen, you know?”

Kurt looked confused. “I thought she’s still saying the baby is Finn’s.”

She was. And it sucked. But Noah had told Kurt already, after swearing him to secrecy. It was one of the reasons he was asking for Kurt’s help. Because he knew the other boy had kept his secret so far, and he could trust him with pretty much anything after that juicy bit of gossip hadn’t leaked.

“Yeah but, she told me about the money dude. So that mean’s like, she’s saying I could help, right?”

“Don’t call me dude,” Kurt breathed out, more of an after thought than with any real conviction. “I don’t know what she was trying to imply, I wasn’t there. But did she say she wanted you to make money for the baby specifically?”

“Basically. She called me a Lima Loser and said she needed someone to be able to provide for the kid.”

“Noah, you’re not a loser,” Kurt cut in, earning a small grin from the bigger boy. He nodded and shrugged it off, but Kurt could see he was happy for the objection. “Are you asking if there’s a job at the garage?”

And that was why Noah liked the other boy. He was too smart sometimes, but he drew the right conclusions about a lot of things. “Yeah,” he huffed out, finally throwing himself down on the couch. “I know I’m shit at that kind of thing right now, but I learn fast dude. I figured maybe you wouldn’t mind showing me the ropes?”

He looked pathetic; he knew he did. But he’d come here to beg, and if that’s what it took…

“Noah, we have to ask my dad. I can’t hire anyone, it’s his garage.” And that had his head snapping up with hope. Kurt wasn’t saying no. He wasn’t saying it was a bad idea or trying to talk him out of it. He was offering the next step to make it happen.

“Why didn’t you just ask at dinner? I’m sixteen. You knew it was going to have to be him.”

That got a chuckle, and had Noah leaning further back on the couch cushions. “Dude, have you met your dad? The man could beat me into the ground if I looked at him funny. No way was I just gonna blurt it out over the mashed potatoes."

Kurt gave a snort of amusement, “He’s not that bad.”

“Yeah okay,” Noah said sarcastically. “Tell that to the other guy he was glaring at all through dinner. Oh wait, that was me.”

“He’s right, kid. I am that bad.” Burt called out as he started walking down the stairs. Noah froze, but Kurt turned around in outrage.

“Dad! Were you _spying _on me?”

Burt sighed and came to a stop at the bottom step. “Kurt, until the day you turn thirty or move out, you better just get used to the idea of me spying on you and whatever boy you’re down here with.”

He nodded over in Noah’s direction, which had him jumping up from the couch and standing nervously behind Kurt.

“Well?” Burt asked. “You better start from the beginning.”

After a shaky start, Noah fed him the entire story of the Quinn hook-up, the revelation of the baby, the fact that Finn thought it was his, and the fact that he needed to get a job to make some money before the baby came.

“Finn’s not the smartest boy, is he?” Burt asked the room, earning a grimace from Noah and a snort from Kurt.

“Quinn is though,” Kurt added. “Noah said she wasn’t even drunk.”

Of all the secrets Noah had shared with Kurt, and all of the ones the other boy had kept for him, he let that one out with no problem.

Burt raised his eyebrows at the boys. “Is that right son?”

Noah looked up far enough to see that the man was addressing him and not his actual son. “I’ve uh… I’ve seen her drunk before. She usually just passes out real early. I mean, I was drinking too?” He cringed at admitting the underage drinking to an adult, but Burt just waved for him to go on. “I was wasted that night. But when I try and remember it, she didn’t really seem like she was. I don’t know.”

Burt nodded and studied Noah for a few minutes longer than was comfortable. “Shave the hair and you can start on Kurt’s next shift.”

Noah looked up in shock. “Wait. Just like that? I tell you my sob story and you’re giving me a job. Aren’t you dating Finn’s mom?”

“Shut up, Noah,” Kurt hissed.

But Burt just laughed. “Noah, do you know how many guys Kurt’s brought home? Zero. And I’m not meaning anything by that. But my kid seems to see something good in you. And you’re in a tough spot right now. I’m not saying it’ll make you rich, but working at the garage will give you a paycheck and teach you a skill for later.”

Burt stopped only when Kurt rushed over and wrapped his arms around his dad is a giant hug, thanking him profusely.

When he looked back over at Noah beaming a great big smile, he figured the right thing to do was shake the man’s hand and give him his own thanks.

“You’ll shadow Kurt at first, work every shift he does,” Burt told him. “When you get to a point that I feel you’re good enough, we can start mixing the schedules up. Sound good?”

“Yes, Sir. That sounds great.” And Noah meant it. Even he could hear the gratitude in his voice, but he was too happy to be embarrassed by it.

“See that?” Burt turned to his son. “He calls me Sir.”

Kurt rolled his eyes, and the next few minutes were spent talking about the coming shifts, what to wear, and what to expect for the first couple of days. As they wound down, Burt excused himself to head up to bed, letting them know to keep the volume down if they turned on a movie.

He left the door open on his way out. 

Kurt pulled out a binder of DVDs and told Noah to pick one while he got changed in the bathroom. Had it been Mercedes down in his room, Kurt would have just assumed she’d pick out a rom-com of some kind. Or maybe a musical.

Since it was Noah, Kurt was certain that the opening menu of some action movie would be waiting for him when he came back. He wasn’t actually upset about it.

Somewhere in the last few weeks, Kurt had gone from seeing the other boy as Puck to Noah. Probably when he found out about the baby and Noah had blurted out what he could remember of the night it happened. He was sure Noah didn’t mean to at first. But if he had been wasted out of his mind, and Quinn had been sober… Why would she do that? How could she be that careless?

He knew Noah had feelings for her. But on one of their many drives to the surrounding towns to grab a bite at a diner where they wouldn’t be noticed, Noah had explained it was more that he was in love with the baby, his baby, than he was with Quinn.

When Kurt had gently brought Noah around to see that the whole thing didn’t make sense if Quinn was sober, Kurt had caught the other boy sending looks of contemplation to the girl. Contemplation that had settled around anger by the end.

On that day, Kurt had driven them further out than normal, hoping the distance would somehow bring peace to his new friend.

Noah caught on pretty quick, and even laughed when he confronted Kurt as they were eating and all the other boy did was look at him with feigned innocence and a _‘who, me?’ _look.

So, it was weird at first. But yeah, they were friends. They kept it down in front of their friends and the rest of the school. But when Noah got home from practice, Kurt was waiting there for him most days. Ready to pick him up for a drive.

Seeing the way the Puckerman’s lived, in a house that was in the lower end of middle class, had been a bit of a wake up call for Kurt. He knew that people weren’t as _comfortable_ as he and his father were. Hell, even he wasn’t as comfortable as people like the Fabray’s.

But Noah’s house was different. He didn’t just not have extra money for a baby, he didn’t have extra money period. Kurt loved his dad, he was the smartest man he knew. But he still didn’t know how he’d looked at Noah and just… _knew. _He was surprised he’d offered the job to Noah so quickly. But then again, not really.

They did end up watching an action movie, one of the Die Hard series that turned into two. And by midnight, Kurt went up to the laundry room to grab a pair of his dad’s sweats for Noah to change into. He helped him pull out the couch, and didn’t think anything of it to have his friend pass out so close to his own bed.

Burt woke them both the next morning, Friday. “School starts in an hour boys, time to get up.”

He didn’t make any kind of remark about Noah spending the night beyond that. By the time they made it upstairs, he’d set an extra plate on the table for breakfast.

They parted ways in the driveway since Noah had his truck, and that was the first morning for the next few weeks of a routine.

On Wednesdays and Fridays Kurt and Noah were in the garage for a 4-8 shift after school. On Saturdays, they had a full eight hours. It got them more money than Noah had expected, and Burt had told him he could pick up hours if one of the guys needed off for whatever reason after Kurt deemed him ready.

Which really only had one drawback… football. To say Finn was pissed when Noah quit would be an understatement. Hell, even Quinn accused him of being flakey. He’d told her privately that it was to earn money for the baby, and she’d said it was sweet. But she didn’t say anything against the insults thrown his way, or the animosity Finn directed at him.

And then… and then… A sunny, if a bit chilly, Tuesday morning rolled around. And anything that could go wrong did. Noah didn’t have his guard up fast enough and he let slip to Mercedes about the baby. About it being his.

By lunchtime, the whole school knew. And by the end of that lunch, Finn had tackled him to the ground and laid into him with his fists. Noah didn’t even fight back really.

Things got worse from there. By the time Glee rolled around, Finn was a seething ball of rage in the corner with Rachel hovering over him and sending both Quinn and Noah looks of fury.

Mercedes and Tina were firmly in Quinn’s corner, sniping back at Rachel when she’d started in on the bashing.

When Kurt walked in, he took a look at the room and saw the division of the two camps. He also noticed that they had, despite being firmly rooted in Team Finn or Team Quinn, could all agree that they were _not_ Team Noah.

He crossed the room and took a seat next to the other boy without hesitation. Noah gave him a quick smile but winced a little when Rachel screeched from the other side of the room, “Kurt! What are you doing?!”

Mercedes joined in, demanding her best friend leave that animal to his own suffering and come sit next to her.

Artie looked uncomfortable, but was clearly going to keep his mouth shut. Brittany looked confused, and Santana looked like she wanted popcorn. Which just left Kurt to be the one to defend his friend.

“That’s enough!” he yelled at them all. The fact that he actually looked pretty pissed must have shocked them into a moment of silence. Sure, they’d seen Kurt upset about frivolous things before, but this was something different. His tone closer to mimicking his dad than ever before.

“I don’t think _any _of you, apart from Noah and Quinn know what really happened. So before you try and alienate anyone, try and see things from where they’re standing. And if they don’t want to talk about it, try and respect that privacy. As it is, I fail to see how this is anyone’s business except for them.”

He sat back down. But after twenty minutes or so, when not even Mr. Schue could get the girls to calm down, Kurt grabbed Noah’s hand and got him to stand up. He grabbed his bag and handed Noah his own, and without another word, led the boy out of the room.

Burt didn’t ask any questions when he saw the boy’s truck in the driveway next to Kurt’s that night. But when Kurt didn’t come upstairs to start dinner later, he went down to investigate.

Noah hadn’t said anything after Kurt had brought him downstairs earlier. He hadn’t said anything when Kurt gave him a familiar pair of Burt’s sweats. And he hadn’t said anything when Kurt set him up one the couch with pillows and a blanket and turned on some movie with mindless explosions every few minutes.

He could hear Kurt explaining what happened in hushed whispers with his dad, but Noah didn’t really have the energy to engage.

But Burt just pulled up a chair and watched the movie with him for a while before heading back upstairs to order them some pizza.

He asked Noah later if he’d rather take the week off work, but he didn’t want that. Work was good. He always felt better being there and actually learning to fix the cars, or just do a bit of maintenance when they needed it. Burt had been right before; he was learning a skill. And at this point, it was the only good thing he had going for him.

So, he kept going to work. He kept crashing at the Hummel’s at least four nights every week, he kept going to school. Except that might have been the _worst_ thing. Because at school, he could see how the Glee club had not only declared him enemy # 1, but they’d given Kurt an ultimatum too.

Noah had witnessed enough conversations between Kurt and his dad to know how that one was going to go. Kurt wasn’t the type of person to cave to an ultimatum, especially from a friend. And it was more likely to piss him off than anything else.

And it did. Noah wasn’t happy about Kurt going through that much trouble on his behalf, but he was grateful for it just the same. Somehow, they’d both sunken to a new level of ‘hated’ at McKinley. After throwing a punch at the first jock to _try _and slushie them in the halls, they were left alone. Honestly, they were alone. If it wasn’t for Mercedes, Rachel, and Finn glaring at them, they wouldn’t have had any attention at all.

Until… the night Quinn had come to Noah’s house crying about her parents kicking her out. Noah had put her in his truck and driven over to the Hummel’s, explaining to Burt as soon as they were in the door.

Well, that wasn’t going to fly with the man. He told Noah to head into the kitchen and help Kurt with dinner, while he took Quinn for a little chat with her parents.

He came home alone.

“Thanks kid,” he muttered to Noah as the boy set a plate of food in front of him. “She was just in her own head for a bit there. They didn’t want to kick her out.”

He went over the talk he’d had with the Fabray’s, and how they were shocked about the baby, but had never had any intention of abandoning their teenage daughter.

Noah wasn’t sure why his first thought had been Burt, but he was glad it had been. And he was glad the man cared.

And then Burt brought up Friday. Specifically, the family dinner on Friday. It was a new/old thing Burt was starting with Carole and Finn. But he was very aware of the complete absence of friendship between Finn and Noah at the moment.

“Dad, we always have dinner with Noah after work on Friday,” Kurt insisted.

“I know that,” Burt nodded his head. “But Carole and I think this would be a nice thing to have, in a family setting.”

Noah immediately said that it was no big deal, Kurt didn’t _have _to have dinner with him every night. But Kurt was still upset by the end of the meal.

“I just don’t think I’ll be able to sit at the same table with that giant douche,” he said when they were alone in the basement later. “You can still come, you know. My dad’s not going to kick you out.”

Noah chuckled as he came back from getting changed in the bathroom. “Dude, I’m not getting in the way of him an Mrs. H, that’s like… no.”

“But this isn’t him and Carole. It’s Finn. Ugh.”

He threw himself down sideways on the couch, lamenting his misfortune for a few minutes before Noah came back and nudged him over. “Are you in Algebra II?” He asked, changing the subject. “We got this take home test that I don’t understand.”

Noah had already tested out of that class. He wasn’t going to win any awards in the rest of the classes, but he’d tested out of the highest Maths class McKinley had. He turned the volume down on the tv and told Kurt to go get his book.

They spent the next hour or so working on the test, with Noah explaining the theories and how to apply them to the word problems. It was good. But as they got ready for bed, Kurt finally asked, “Doesn’t your mother wonder where you are? You’re over here more than you’re at home, I just figured she might be worried.”

“Nah,” Noah shrugged, giving him a slight smile. “She works overnights at the hospital. And my sister practically lives with my Nana anyways. She probably just figures I’m over there.”

Kurt couldn’t imagine his dad being okay with not knowing where he spent his nights. But it was just one more thing to show how different the Hummel and Puckerman households were that he didn’t spend too long thinking about it.

Besides, he was basically sharing his room with Noah by that point. And even though a year ago he couldn’t have imagined that would _ever_ happen, he could honestly say it was comfortable by now. His dad didn’t even remind them about the door anymore. Although Noah never closed it anyway.

So, family dinners started on Fridays. And Kurt had to suffer through Finn sitting at his table. He adored Carole, so he tried to be civil for her. But Finn had never moved past the whole Noah/Quinn situation, even though he was dating Rachel now.

The first and only time Finn invited Rachel to Friday Family Dinner, she spent the whole time making underhanded comments about brother’s needing to be loyal and support each other, and not take the side of people who don’t deserve it.

Kurt asked to be excused from the table that night, and Burt wasn’t surprised to hear the doorbell ring twenty minutes later. Nor was he surprised to see Noah standing on his doorstep when he got up to answer it, the boy’s hands stuffed in his pockets and huddled against the cold. He _was_ surprised when he declined Burt’s invitation to join them, and watched his son rush past him out the door.

Noah caught Kurt in a hug immediately, but Burt saw enough to see his son had been crying. He pulled Kurt’s arm a little until he turned around, and gave him his own hug before taking his keys and handing them to Noah.

“We’ll take my truck,” Noah murmured.

Burt didn’t know where they were headed, but if Kurt needed to be away for a bit, he could respect that. “It’s going to get cold later. If there’s ice on the road, just give me a call. I’ll come get you.”

Noah nodded and led Kurt away. Burt resolved himself to have a little chat with Finn and his girlfriend before the night was over. He loved Carole, but Kurt was his son, and he wasn’t about to make his son live in discomfort in his own home.

It was a little brazen of the girl, and even of Finn, to assume Burt didn’t know the situation and wasn’t going to be able to read between the lines of her ramblings. Best to nip that in the bud right now, Burt knew everything.

Which explained why he knew, _he knew_, when the baby was delivered, and that woman from New York was hovering in the waiting room… Burt _knew_ what was going on.

Noah had wanted Kurt there with him during the delivery. Realistically, there was no way Quinn was letting him in the room. But Noah wanted him close. And given how much the kid had grown on Burt recently, there was no way he was going to not be there for him too.

Carole and Burt had talked about them moving in together, but their house already had another occupant: Noah.

When Noah had purchased a crib and was setting it up in his room at home, his mother had walked in. She had not been pleased. She had _really_ not been pleased. By the time Burt had gotten there, after Noah had called begging him to come over and talk to her like he had with Quinn’s parents, Burt could tell it wasn’t going to go the same way.

Mrs. Puckerman had been incensed. Noah might have shaved off the mohawk, but his mom had never really changed her image of him. She hardly saw him anymore with their different schedules, and no amount of ‘character reference’ from Burt was going to change that.

In the end, he told Noah to pack up the crib in the truck, and pack up the rest of his things too. He sat down with Noah’s mom while the other boy silently went about gathering his things and that was that.

Noah’s mom didn’t want him staying in her house, and didn’t want him visiting his Nana or sister, though his Nana saw that a bit differently. Bless that woman. Still, she had enough trouble taking care of his little sister. Noah wasn’t going to force her to take in an infant too.

Kurt, for his part, had been thrilled. He finally had an excuse to redecorate the basement, even if it was for a baby.

But there was a whole other section of the basement that his dad had never let him use before. Mainly because it wasn’t finished and insulated like his space. 

But with the addition of Noah, and the anticipation of the baby, Burt had set aside some money to hire workers and get it fitted for another room, an expansion of Kurt’s bathroom, and an extra space for a little nursery along the wall that had more window space near the top of the wall.

Kurt had been in designing heaven. Which led to the first argument Burt had ever witnessed between the two boys.

“I just don’t see why I need a new bed!” He heard Noah saying with a raised voice. Noah had respected the rule about open doors, even though Burt had commented that when the baby was there he expected that door to be _closed._

“Noah, you can’t keep sleeping on the couch!” Kurt yelled back. “Don’t think I haven’t seen the face you make when you’re working under a hood in the garage. It’s not good for you. But if you’re determined to be the next hunchback of Notre Dame then who am I to argue!”

“Exactly! So why are we arguing?!”

“Urghh!”

Burt walked down the stairs to see Kurt storm away to the new room, throwing his hands in the air and muttering about stupid boys who are too stubborn for their own good.

“And he says _I’m_ the stubborn one,” Puck sent over to Burt when he got to the bottom landing. 

“Well, he’s got a point about that couch,” Burt mentioned. “It’s older than either one of you.”

“It’s not that bad, really. And you guys have been so great with everything, and I know I paid for the baby furniture, but you’re spending enough money just doing this. I don’t need my own bed. Really.”

Burt nodded, wondering if it was the fact that the ‘bed’ was going in a separate room more than the money. He knew Noah had latched onto Kurt, just like his son had latched onto the other boy right back.

With the way things had gone down for the two of them, he was pretty sure they were the only friends each other had.

“How about this: I’m going to replace the couch anyway. And you can use the other room for music or school stuff.”

Noah ducked his head at the suggestion, happy Burt wasn’t pushing it with the ‘talking about it’ side of things. “What are the odds he lets us help him pick out a new one?”

That got Burt to laugh, “Honestly, kid? You probably have a better shot at that than me. Hey, Kurt?” He called down the new hall to get his son’s attention.

“Dad, don’t listen to anything Noah tells you,” Kurt demanded when he came back out and saw the two men smiling at him. “His back hurts worse than he’s admitting.”

“Kurt,” his dad said patiently. “We’re going out on Sunday to get a new couch, and it might be nice if you let Noah help pick it out.”

Kurt sniffed, considering it, then turned to Noah, “As long as it fits in the color scheme.”

“So… something white?”

“God, no. With a baby?” Kurt looked at Noah like he’d grown a second head. “Say goodbye to my beautiful bachelor pad. We’re going with neutrals and a few darker touches to hide any stains. If you stick to gray it should be fine.”

And that settled it. They picked up a new couch, this time a sectional with a nice chaise that weekend. Kurt had redesigned the room with the workers beyond just redecorating.

The basement was no longer just an open room with a bed and couch. He’d moved his own bed into the new room down the new hall, though he’d kept his closet in the main living area. But the place where his bed used to be was now half taken up with the expanded bathroom.

They’d put in a double sink, and an actual tub rather than just a shower. The other half of that space was where Burt insisted on a small kitchen. Nothing too fancy, but an apartment fridge with a small stove and countertop were put in. And the living area had been rearranged to put the TV against a different wall with a nice seating area for the couch and even more room to walk around.

Burt politely didn’t say anything when Kurt mentioned Noah just crashing in his bed so he could be closer to the baby. Noah’s complaints about Kurt moving the bed had started when the other boy first mentioned it, and only stopped when Kurt invited him to share.

Burt wasn’t stupid. See previously mention perceptiveness. He knew that even if the boys weren’t technically ‘together’ at the moment, they were getting pretty close to it. He didn’t figure it would be long.

The good news was that he’d never seen a pair of sixteen/seventeen year olds more committed to each other since he’d met Kurt’s mom. Also, Kurt couldn’t get pregnant here. Also, also, there was already a baby in the mix.

Which brought him back to the present situation: The hospital.

Specifically, watching the new woman, Shelby, hovering around the delivery room.

“Kurt, go get one of the nurses,” Burt ordered hi son. Kurt gave him a small look of confusion but left to do as he asked while he invited Shelby into a conversation. When Kurt came back, a nurse dutifully in tow, Burt wasted no time getting to the point.

“Tell me there’s not some plan going where you think you’re walking out of here with someone else’s baby.”

Shelby looked shocked, and the nurse just looked uncomfortable. The woman from New York quickly recovered though, and assured Burt that Quinn had already agreed to the adoption.

Kurt gasped in horror, but Burt remained calm. “Here’s the thing. That baby has two parents. And while the mother might not want to keep it, I can promise you the father does. He’s rearranged his entire life to make room for that baby. I can’t imagine he’s agreed to giving her up.”

“Well, I…I…” Shelby stammered.

“Yeah, no.” Burt’s face turned hard, much like Kurt’s had when he got over the shock. “Noah’s name is going on that birth certificate, and he’ll be the one carrying that little girl out of here. I don’t care if I have to stand guard at the front door, you’re not taking that baby. So, I suggest you take yourself, and whatever good intentions you rode in on and hightail it back to the big city.” 

It turned out that Noah _hadn’t _known. And after a few minutes of joy when he carried the newborn out of the delivery room to meet them, he settled into the grim reality of what almost happened.

He handed little Beth over to Kurt, stroking her tiny cheek one more time, and marched back into the delivery room to demand Quinn admit he was the father to the hospital staff so he could claim paternity.

She cried, she pleaded to him to let Shelby adopt the baby, but he stood firm. He would’ve felt bad about upsetting her so soon after the birth had he not known she was planning to give Beth away to a stranger.

In the end, he did carry Beth out of that hospital. In a brand new carrier and loaded her up into Kurt’s Navigator for the drive home.

The renovations to the basement had all been completed, and new paint put on the walls. Noah had started seeing the Hummel house as his house, but it wasn’t until he had Beth downstairs in the basement apartment that he really felt like he was home.

“Alright boys,” Burt smiled over to Kurt and Noah as they settled little Beth into her crib. “You’ve got the summer to get into the swing of parenthood. But don’t think I’ll be letting you slack off in the shop, or with your Junior and Senior year coming up.”

There was no use in seeing Kurt as any different from Noah in Beth’s life. His son had picked his spot and drawn his lines. He may not have the friends he had before, and it might be _way_ too early for this kind of twist on Kurt’s life. But Burt was proud of both of them.

He left them to it when they both ignored him in favor of staring down at the sleeping baby. They’d learn soon enough that when a baby was sleeping, they should take advantage of the free nap time. In the meantime, Grandpa Burt would be there to see them through it.


	2. Chapter 2

It had been almost a week since Burt had seen Noah or his son. Which sort of made sense, because it was summer break and Beth had been home for just over that week timeline. Still, it’d been a whole week and he needed to put his own mind at ease by checking in on them.

When he made his way down the stairs to the basement apartment, the first thing he noticed was that it was clean. He figured with the new baby it would have looked less put together, but Noah had never been particularly messy. And Kurt would scream before he left anything out of place. So, really, he should have expected it.

The second thing he noticed was that it was quiet. The basement was soundproofed, which was a blessing. But he thought he might hear the little one fussing when he came down.

Nope.

Instead, it was a clean, quiet apartment with soft lighting in the living area and the light from the windows slowly fading. Leaving spring and headed into summer, the days were longer. But it was after six in the evening, and there wouldn’t be much daylight left to reach the lower apartment soon.

A sound from the hallway caught his attention and he watched a sleepy Noah come out in sweats and a tank. He stopped for a minute when he saw Burt, gave him a hint of a smile, and continued on towards the little kitchen.

The first thing Noah had insisted on in the place was a normal coffee maker. Kurt had lobbied for a state of the art espresso machine, but Noah had just given him a look that said he would be putting up with _none _of Kurt’s ways, and asked the other boy to show him where, exactly, he thought a machine like that would fit.

Burt planned to buy him one for Christmas. But it would live upstairs in the bigger kitchen.

Noah started a pot and pulled two mugs from the drying rack. He turned to Burt and held up a third mug in question.

“You want one? Kurt went out earlier and got some groceries, so there’s cream and stuff.”

Burt gave a nod back and took a peek in the fridge when Noah opened it. Kurt had indeed got some groceries. They looked stocked for the next week at least.

“She sleeps from like, noon till now. So we’ve been trying to get on her schedule for the last few days. But Kurt said he wanted to take advantage of the downtime to go shopping.”

Noah grinned when Burt laughed at that, but he shook his head and scratched tiredly across his stomach. “I thought he meant clothes and shit. But then he came home with a ton of grocery bags and I felt a little guilty. He said he got stuff for you upstairs too.”

“He hasn’t been shopping at the mall in a while, has he?”

Burt looked a little pensive and Noah was slightly concerned the man was mad about his son having ‘changed’ since Noah became a fixture in their house. They’d both seen it, but they’d never addressed it directly, or talked to Kurt about it. But the boy didn’t seem to want to spend hours on end in a mall doing ‘retail therapy’ anymore.

“I asked him a while ago if he wanted to go out to the stores,” Noah admitted while he poured them both a coffee and set aside the third cup. “He asked me if I had seen the spring line, and that he could make better clothes in his sleep, so…”

And that got Burt to smile again. “Well, the credit card statement appreciates it.”

Kurt was who he was, and he wasn’t going to apologize for that or try and hide it. He liked looking good, he liked fashion. He still wore his skinny jeans that Noah swore would cut off his circulation one day. But he usually paired it with a tee-shirt and pullover or cardigan lately. On top of that, his footwear was less flashy, and more sensible.

He looked good, but he looked comfortable now. Like he wasn’t trying to prove anything. It was Noah’s favorite look on him.

Speaking of Kurt, they both heard a quiet sound from the hall and looked over just in time to see the other boy come into the room carrying Beth against his chest.

Like Noah, he was dressed way down in a pair of sleep pants and a soft henley, and happily handed the baby over to her father while he made his own coffee, then pulled out the formula and a pot to start some water.

“Noah was just telling me you went grocery shopping today,” Burt prompted.

“Yeah, I was thinking I’d make a casserole tonight. I know I haven’t really cooked this week, but I put the stuff for it upstairs if it sounds good.”

“Sounds great son. Come upstairs when you’re ready.” Burt didn’t want to rush them, and the baby just woke up. So he figured even if he wasn’t the best cook around, he could pull out the ingredients and get started to save all of them some time.

Plus, he had some things he wanted to talk to them about tonight anyway, and time management with a new baby was key.

It surprised him not at all when the trio didn’t make their way upstairs until almost forty-five minutes later. Kurt had Beth in his arms while Noah was lugging up the baby carrier. They got her situated on the table and Kurt looked over the casserole in the oven, declaring it needed just a few more minutes.

Which was good, because Burt probably would’ve left it in for a lot longer than that.

He didn’t want to wait until dinner was over though, who knew if they’d get to keep the peace with Beth, so he got started. “Noah you turn seventeen this fall, right?”

That threw the boy for a spin, but he confirmed it. And Burt set about showing him emancipation papers he’d had a friend draw up. “I can write you a letter of recommendation, let the courts know you’re staying here. But I think this might be a good step to go into the next thing.”

The next thing was insurance. Burt wanted to give Noah more hours on the books at the garage to get him covered under the health insurance policy. It would mean more time away from Beth, and more nights after school when that started up again, but it would get Beth covered for any medical appointments.

“Emancipation will let you work with the school, try and see if they can rearrange your schedule to give you half days.”

Kurt was quiet as he pulled the dish from the oven and portioned out three plates. But he’d been listening.

“Didn’t you say you already tested out of math?” He asked.

“Yeah, and I have lunch, study hall, and my time on the football team covered gym.” Noah agreed before taking a bite and groaning at the taste. He’d been living off snacks and sandwiches for the last week. He and Kurt both had. The casserole was a welcome change.

“You think that’s enough for shorter days?” Burt asked.

They both seemed to think about it, Noah shrugging and telling him, “Probably,” before shoveling another forkful into his mouth.

“Good, good.” Burt smiled back. I’ll get the paperwork at the shop sorted and mark you down as being on paternity leave. It’ll get you through the summer, but then it’ll be pretty busy when school starts back up.”

“What’s happening on Friday?” Kurt asked, looking at his dad.

Friday Family Dinners still happened, just not that past one. Beth had just come home, and Burt had cancelled it, wanting to give everyone time to breathe. Noah was invited to all of them since he’d moved in. But he hadn’t come upstairs for one yet. And Finn never went downstairs.

They’d only been out of school for just over a week, but it seemed like so much longer given everything that had happened. Finn had never really come around to forgiving Noah, and the girls were still frosty to Kurt. Even when they were in Glee. They both still went, but with the changes to their responsibilities, they’d both talked about dropping the extracurricular the next year.

“If Noah is able to get shorter days,” Kurt started, “Do you think we can try something like that for me?”

Burt had already been expecting the request, and he’d considered talking to the guidance counselor once the offices opened back up. He told him the plan, and was happy to see his son smile. It was a ways off, but the idea alone and the fact that Burt wasn’t shooting it down went a long way. 

It turned out to be much less dramatic than he’d built it up to be. And by the time the summer was coming to a close, Noah was legally an adult with a full time job and finishing his high school career doing his morning classes and heading into the garage around lunch time.

Kurt on the other hand started his days off at home and went into the school around noon. He stayed in Glee, despite his offer to drop it. But it was one of the requirements the school made. He had to keep the extracurricular, and add on French tutoring, but they would allow him to take Calculus and gym over the next summer to stay on track and graduate with his class.

Noah had already offered to tutor him in Calculus, so he wasn’t worried.

In a shock of the century, Mrs. Puckerman had offered to stay with Beth for the days while Kurt was at school and Noah was at the garage. She usually finished her shifts around three in the morning, so it gave her time to get home, sleep, and then head over to the Hummel’s around lunch time.

It didn’t fix everything between Noah and his mom, but it was getting there. She was coming around to the idea of her son practically living with another boy too.

Neither Kurt, nor Noah had admitted to anything, but Burt could see a little difference by the time summer was over. Living in each other’s pockets like they were, feelings were bound to come to the surface. He planned to wait until they wanted him to know before he said anything.

On a typical Friday shortly after school started, Burt and Noah came home to find Carole and Finn already there. Kurt was in the kitchen, Beth in her carrier on the table while he and Carole worked on dinner.

Finn was in the living room watching TV, and while he stood as Noah walked in, he didn’t make any moves to follow him and Burt into the kitchen.

Noah didn’t seem to be going out of his way to interact with Finn either though. And almost as soon as he came in the kitchen, he leaned down to kiss Beth’s head before stepping back and letting Burt give the tiny girl his own hello.

All too soon though, Noah picked up the carrier and took her downstairs. But not before giving Kurt a loaded glance.

Despite Kurt feeling like he knew Noah like the back of his hand, he wasn’t sure what that look was supposed to mean. Noah didn’t join them for dinner, not that Kurt thought he would. And things seemed tense anyway. So, it was probably better the other boy wasn’t there.

After cleaning up from the meal a little later, Kurt made his way down to their shared living space. Noah was on the couch with a movie on low. He’d showered at some point, and was nursing a can of coke. But he waited until Kurt took a seat beside him to say anything.

“Did he… Was he playing with Beth before I got here?”

Kurt sighed. “No, Noah. Carole was happy to see her, but Finn walked straight into the living room and stayed there until you and dad came home.”

There was something about the relief Kurt could see on Noah’s face that had him concerned. “Wait, you didn’t… Did you say something to him? Tell him not to see her?”

Noah snorted as though the question was ridiculous. “As if. He would have to be talking to me for me to be able to do that. I just didn’t realize they would be over so early. I guess I wasn’t comfortable with her being around new people, or something.”

“Noah, I don’t think Finn would _do_ anything…”

The look Kurt got back pinged as placation. “I know,” Noah nodded. “Go wash up, princess. There’s a rerun of this week’s Survivor coming on and you wanted to see that medallion thing they’re doing.”

Kurt gave him a side-eye for a moment, but went to clean up and change like Noah suggested.

They stayed on the couch for the whole episode, thrilled when Beth stayed asleep. After they’d turned the lights out for the night though, Kurt rolled over in bed to face Noah.

“About before,” he murmured. “Do you really think Finn would do something to Beth?”

“Honestly? No. I don’t know. I just… Kurt, I know I wasn’t the best kind of person in Freshman year. Or even the beginning of last year. But I’m not that guy anymore.”

Kurt placed a palm against Noah’s chest. “I know you aren’t.”

“Right. But that’s because things happened that made me change. You, your dad, Beth, even my mom. Those were all big pieces of why I had to grow up.” He pulled Kurt closer, tucked in against his side. “And you’ve changed too. Nothing crazy, you’re still you. But you’re like, the person I trust the most, you know?”

“Noah…” Kurt whispered.

“No, seriously.” Noah affirmed, rolling on his side so he was facing Kurt directly. “You’re my best friend. And I’ve seen how much you do for me and Beth, how much you care about us. Besides, I’m pretty sure Beth thinks you’re her dad most days.”

It got a chuckle out of both of them, but a quiet one. Like they were in a private bubble and too much noise would make it pop.

“We’ve been living like this for the last four months, but it was longer before Beth came home. And I wouldn’t trade this for anything.” Noah squeezed Kurt’s waist a little tighter. “But thinking about how good it is now makes me remember how it was before. And I’m trying to remember good times I had with Finn. But I just keep remembering the things he used to say when we were picking on you guys.”

“You mean when you were bullying us,” Kurt interjected.

“Yes, when we were doing that. It’s just, some of the things he said. Kurt, I’m pretty sure Finn doesn’t like gay people.”

Noah held him in silence for a few moments, giving another squeeze when he heard a soft sniffle.

“Even if he doesn’t, I still don’t think he’d hurt a baby just because I’m in the same room.”

Noah could tell Kurt was hurt by the idea. He put on a brave face. Hell, he was hands down one of the bravest people Noah knew. But being brave doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt.

“I don’t think he’d hurt her,” Noah admitted. “I just don’t think he likes her very much. And that’s scary to me.”

Kurt nodded against his chest, told him he understood, and wrapped his own arm around Noah’s waist. It was as much of an explanation as he needed, and he hoped Noah could see that with physical reassurances.

They’d moved well past the awkward moment of realizing sharing a bed usually meant waking up wrapped together. And they’d stopped waiting for their sleeping selves to do it for them after a couple weeks of it being a thing.

They knew it was something. But with everything that their lives had turned into, it was nice to have one thing just settle in naturally without needing to force it.

Noah wasn’t the only one who’d done some growing up over the summer, he was right about that. If this was happening a year ago, Kurt might be tempted to call up Mercedes and tell her about his _totally _inappropriate crush he had on the guy he slept next to every night.

But if this was a year ago, he wouldn’t be sleeping next to Noah every night. His room would still be _his _room. There wouldn’t be a kitchen and expanded bathroom taking up the space where his bed used to be. There wouldn’t be a nursery across a hallway that didn’t exist, with a sleeping baby who also didn’t exist.

He wouldn’t have watched a mother give up parental rights to her child, or watched the father of that child almost lose that little girl to a stranger. And he wouldn’t have seen that boy’s relationship with his own mother go to the brink of destruction before slowly inching back from the edge.

He wouldn’t have stopped himself from calling Mercedes, because a year ago, they were still BFFs. He wouldn’t know what it looked like when she cut him off till he ‘came to his senses’ for being friends with a boy who begged for a job so he wouldn’t be a deadbeat dad like his old man.

Kurt happened to think, when faced with those facts, that he’d prefer to live in this reality. The one he could hold onto as he went to sleep each night. A year ago may as well have been a lifetime ago. And he liked his life the way it was now.

Even three hours later, when Beth woke them up with a hungry cry, and Noah got up to settle her but ended up bringing her back to bed with them. It was still better to Kurt than anything else.

* * *

Two days after that discussion, Burt sat them both down at the dinner table upstairs. They didn’t have work on Sundays since the garage was closed, and Noah generally took advantage of the free evening to go see his Nana if she had time.

Unfortunately, with his work schedule the way it was, he wasn’t able to take his Nana to temple on Shabbat, but his mom usually went with her. Having Noah move out, and having a few sit down conversations with Burt helped his mom face some hard realities about her role as a parent. Especially when Burt brought the emancipation papers for her signature.

She signed them because it was the best course of action for Noah and Beth to be supported financially and insurance-wise. And she’d seen where Noah was living now. She was happy for him. Plus, she got to see Beth most week days. Noah had even agreed when Beth hit her third month that his mom could take her to temple for a service.

Everyone _loved _her. She really was the prettiest baby, with shocking blond hair and a cherub face.

She usually tried to be free on Sunday afternoons for Noah’s visits with his Nana and little sister. They still had a long way to go, and she could see how damaged her son’s self-esteem still was. But it was moving into healthier territory, and she wanted to help that along if she could.

Noah had sat down with her and Burt before he went back to school, explaining the empty space in the childcare schedule for Beth. Noah didn’t want to hire a babysitter and have some unknown person with his daughter for at least four hours every day, and she quickly agreed that she could fill in. That she would be happy to.

When Burt sat down with Kurt and Noah that Sunday, the young father assumed it was something to do with Beth. And it sort of was, but only indirectly.

“I want to talk to both of you before I talk to Carole about this again,” Burt started. “But I’m thinking of asking her and Finn to move in here.”

Burt had expected silence from Noah, but he was surprised when he got it from Kurt as well. He went on to explain that he and Carole were planning a ‘long-term’ outlook for their relationship, and it just made sense to combine the households.

“She knows that you two are set up downstairs, and that Noah and Beth are permanent family members, but it would be adding the both of them into this family.”

“I can only assume Finn would be in the guest room upstairs?” Kurt asked, raising his chin and adopting a colder tone that he’s had lately.

“Yep,” Burt nodded back. “We’d be clearing out the boxes and moving his stuff in.”

Noah nodded, saying nothing beyond ‘it’s your house,’ but Kurt still looked like an ice queen in his chair. Staring at his father with an almost accusatory expression, but blank at the same time.

“I’m gonna take Beth over to my Nana’s, she’s been asking to see her,” Noah told them as he got up. He leaned back down for a moment and placed a quick kiss to the side of Kurt’s head before leaving the room and not looking back.

Burt waited until Noah had gone down to collect Beth and her things, and then heading out the front door before looking back at his son and shrugging an arm in Kurt’s direction. “Well, that was new.”

“It was. But it’s not the issue we’re talking about. When Noah and I have that discussion, you’ll be the first to know.” Kurt sounded all of thirty-seven, rather than seventeen.

“Is this about Carole or Finn?” Burt knew his son. He knew when Kurt was dismissive it usually meant he had strong feelings about a person, good or bad. Honestly, the kid wore his heart on his sleeve, for all of his bravado.

“I love Carole,” Kurt insisted. “I think you two are perfect for each other.”

Burt nodded and gave a little smile. “So, it’s about Finn.” He held his laughter at Kurt’s narrow-eyed response.

Kurt sighed out, deflating a little in front of his dad but he tried to correct his posture before letting him know that, “I’m not sure Finn is the most… accepting… or tolerant of people when it comes to me and Noah.”

“Are you saying he bullies you?” Burt went from calm and chill, to papa bear in .2 seconds.

“Not, not physically.” Kurt threw his hands up to ward off the Angry Dad TM sitting across from him, and assured him that while Finn might have acted a certain way Freshman year, mostly it was just angry looks and indifference towards Kurt now.

“He doesn’t pick on Noah, does he?” Burt asked a little more subdued than before.

“I don’t really know. I mean Noah’s never said that he does, but I saw how pissed Finn was when he quit football. And Rachel encourages him to look at Noah like he somehow _betrayed _the Glee club by quitting that too.” Kurt sighed the sigh of a long-suffering witness to the bullshit that was high school, and got up to get them both a can of soda from the fridge.

“Then there’s the whole Quinn thing. Since Noah brought Beth home instead of letting Quinn give her up for adoption, she gets this look whenever she has to see Noah. At least from what I’ve seen.” He waived his arm out and let out the third big sigh of the conversation.

“She acts like he’s hurt her somehow, and Finn… I think Finn still feels like it’s his job to protect her, even though they’re not dating anymore. I don’t know, there’s a weird triangle thing with him and Rachel, and Quinn.”

Burt took the information in, feeling a little like he was getting sucked into teenage drama, and he was a grown-ass man for crying out loud. “I can talk to him.”

Kurt raised disbelieving eyebrows. “Finn or Noah? Because I talked to Noah Friday night. Not about everything, but a little about Finn. He said,” Kurt cut off for a minute, gathering his thoughts. “He didn’t say anything about Finn specifically hurting Beth, but I don’t think he wants to leave her alone with him.”

And that was a serious thing to say. Burt hadn’t been offended when Noah walked out. He knew the kid looked up to him, and he was trying to be worthy of that. But Noah feeling safe in their home was as important as Kurt feeling safe. And in a town like Lima, with Noah and Kurt’s relationship taking the turn it seemed to be, being safe was a real concern.

“See if Noah wouldn’t mind joining in on dinner this Friday,” Burt told him. “I’ll talk to Carole and let her know we want to have a real talk about the idea with the three of you.”

Kurt thought that conversation was going to be a train wreck, and let his dad know it. But it would be an important thing to talk about if they were going to move forward.

Burt acknowledged both the need for the conversation and the possible outcome, but redirected Kurt’s attention to other household needs, like groceries and cleaning.

“I looked at those agencies you mentioned, you really think we need a cleaner?”

Kurt gave his dad a look. They had discussed this for _hours _already. With Noah and his dad working full time, and with school and Beth, they’d all been slacking on the household chores.

“I’m still putting hours in at the shop when Noah’s mom can stay a little later, and you guys are out all day. Sunday’s just aren’t enough.” He could conceivably get things done on Sunday, but it wasn’t something any of them wanted to do. They needed a down day too. “It just makes sense. Norah will be here, so she could keep an eye on whoever they send. But I don’t want her to think she needs to clean up after us.”

And despite the rocky start with Noah’s mom, Norah Puckerman had indeed started to ‘tidy up’ around the house lately. They all felt guilty.

“Okay,” Burt agreed. “Pick one out and we’ll give it a try.”

“Thanks dad.” The smile Kurt gave him was worth it. “I’m going to get dressed, see if Noah wants to meet up for some shopping.”

“What about Beth?”

Kurt shrugged. “I mean, Norah can bring her home? I’ll take the Nav over, so she can use that to get back here if you can take her home after. Noah’s truck will be fine for the groceries.”

“Just have her call me,” Burt called out as he walked into the living room to catch up on the games he’d missed. “Let me know when to expect them.”

And that was a plan. Friday was going to be a disaster. Kurt knew that. But he had the rest of Sunday and a whole week to enjoy before things got heavy. He intended to take advantage of that.


	3. Chapter 3

“Kurt, I’m not gonna just _give_ you the answers to the test,” Noah huffed as he got up from the table to check on the pasta.

Burt had convinced Noah to take a couple hours at the end of the day on Friday to get home and get ready for dinner. Initially he wasn’t going to agree to the sit down, but Burt had made a sincere request and he didn’t want to say no to the man’s face.

When he got home though, Norah was still there and Kurt was downstairs giving his online Calculus class a solid effort. And failing miserably. The school had already agreed that he could take it over the summer. But he didn’t want to waste more of his future free time than he needed to.

And the local community college offered it, so he was taking an online version of the class for both high school and college credit. When he presented it that way to his dad, Burt had agreed.

It didn’t mean Kurt was managing all that well, and more often than not he brought his laptop out to the couch and worked on it in the evenings when Noah was there.

After Noah had come home that day and got cleaned up from work, he convinced Kurt to bring his books upstairs so he could work while they started dinner.

“I’m not saying do it for me, but look. Look at this! It makes no sense!” Kurt rarely raised his voice anymore, too worried about setting Beth off. But he was seriously fed up.

Noah studied him for a minute before standing behind his chair and reading over his shoulder. He snorted after a glance and grabbed the pencil to scratch a line out. “Yeah, that’s because you got the formula down wrong.”

Kurt wasn’t even mad. Being mad would be admitting he screwed something up, and he’d rather wallow in that with total silence.

“Noah,” his mom called out. “I have tomorrow off, what do you think about me taking Beth to services tonight and having a girl’s night later at Nana’s?”

She came into the kitchen and traded Beth for Noah’s spatula before stirring the pot. “This isn’t kosher Noah,” she chided.

He settled Beth on his shoulder and reminded his mom that the rest of the people in the house aren’t Jewish. “But I stick to it when I can, Ma. You know that.”

“I know, I know. So what about tonight?”

“Like a sleep over?” He frowned at the idea. “But her crib is here.”

Kurt nearly choked on his water. “Noah don’t lie to you mother. You bring her to bed every other night anyway.”

“Yeah, but she always starts out in her crib.”

Kurt dropped his pencil and turned around so he could give Noah his best ‘I’m judging you’ look and proceeded to count the nights in the last two weeks alone that Noah got up shortly after going to sleep and returning with Beth for the rest of the night after her feeding.

Which set Noah off and had him insisting that starting the night in the crib was good to keep her structured. He’d _shown_ Kurt weeks ago about how it said that in one of the books on parenting he’d bought. 

Norah smiled at the two bickering. She already knew they shared a bed and had already confronted her son about that. Not in a bad way, just in a way where she let him know that he didn’t have to feel like he had to hide anything from her.

He made an off-hand comment about how ‘being with a dude isn’t very Jewish, is it.’ To which she responded that it was nonsense, and they might be conservative, but they weren’t orthodox. Adding that there were plenty of gay couples at temple.

Then she tacked on that he might know that already if he came to services more often. But she didn’t single out the fact that it was Noah who voiced the idea of him being in a relationship with another boy. She and Burt had already talked about it with each other and knew the boys weren’t ready to tell them yet.

“Noah, Kurt,” she called, talking just louder than them in order to stop their argument. “I just thought it might be nice to have Beth with us and out for the night since you have that dinner planned.”

Noah deflated. “Yeah… yeah, that’s probably a good idea. Kurt can you watch the food?” He handed Beth back to his mom and gave her a quick kiss on her cheek before announcing he was headed downstairs to pack a bag for her.

When he really thought about it, he didn’t want to have to worry about Beth for the night. Especially if the dinner went the way he thought it was going to. About half an hour before Burt and the others were due, Norah and Beth took off to her house for the evening, and Kurt had placed the pasta casserole in the oven to bake.

“It’ll be fine,” he whispered to Kurt as the other boy started to clear his books from the table. He helped him load his bag up and followed him downstairs when he didn’t get an answer.

Kurt set the bag on the ground, but quickly made his way over to the couch and faceplanted dramatically into a pillow. Noah nudged him over until he could lay down next to him and corner the smaller boy between his body and the back cushions.

“It’ll be okay,” he repeated, rubbing the other boy’s arm and trying to give him an encouraging smile.

“What if it’s not?” And Kurt sounded too scared for Noah’s liking.

“Then it’s not. And we tell Burt that it makes both of us uncomfortable.”

Kurt’s face crumpled at that. “But he’s so happy with Carole. And Finn’s her son. If we say anything… If Finn says anything… it could break them up. And I hate that.”

“Babe, I know it doesn’t feel like it, it doesn’t to me either. But you just turned seventeen. So did I. Your dad’s the adult here.” Noah gave him a real smile that time. And even though Kurt didn’t return it, he was actively listening. “And you feeling comfortable in your own home is like, the most important thing to him. This isn’t about him and Carole. It’s about Finn. And whether he’s going to make this home feel like you’re right back in high school again.”

“You called me babe,” Kurt whispered with a wide-eyed look of shock.

Noah groaned and tucked his face against Kurt’s neck. “Please tell me that’s not all you got out of that.”

He recovered well. “No. Of course not. But is that… Are we doing that now? Calling each other babe?”

Noah smirked at the bashfulness. He could feel a stirring inside that he hadn’t really felt since the night he moved into the Hummel’s and got his life started on a good, and admittedly very busy, track.

There’d been moments of it here and there. But he took that little pocket of time they had together on the couch to really revel in the fact that he was able to make Kurt blush. “Well, I’m not saying _you _have to, or anything. But I’m pretty sure I’ll be doing it again. Mostly because it gets you all embarrassed like you’re getting right now.”

“Noah, please,” Kurt huffed out and gave his chest a light smack. But he knew Kurt wasn’t really mad. He could see the other boy’s lips trying to fight a smile.

And that was a bad idea, looking at his lips. He swayed a little closer, not enough to cage Kurt in, but enough to make it pretty clear what he wanted to do. When Kurt didn’t move away or tense up at all, he inched a little closer. When he had his nose pressing into Kurt’s cheek, and they were sharing each breath, there wasn’t any pretending it wasn’t going to happen.

Noah reached the end of his patience and tilted his chin a fraction of an inch up until he could catch Kurt’s bottom lip between his own. And it was perfect. Kurt melted back, and Noah followed. He pressed him deeper into the couch and set a hard pace for their first kiss.

He’d wanted it for a while, but he’d held back. Usually it wasn’t a problem since there were enough things on his plate to distract him. But he’d _wanted_ it. And Kurt was giving it to him.

For his own part, Kurt was in heaven. Noah was just… Noah. He was wonderful. And Kurt knew he liked him. A lot. His fashion sense might be non-existent. But that was the outer layer of Noah Puckerman. It wasn’t _who_ he was.

And who he was… well, Kurt knew of one man with more honor and worth than Noah, and that was his dad.

If Noah wanted to live with him and his baby, sleep next to him, kiss him, and call him babe… Kurt wasn’t complaining. And speaking of kissing! Good god, that boy could kiss. Kurt felt scandalized from just Noah’s tongue in his mouth. It was so much better than any first kiss he could imagine.

Noah was passion and fire and a force of nature. It was overwhelming, but it was _awesome._ And his hands… Noah didn’t just kiss with his mouth, he kissed with his whole body. Hands were roaming over his arms, his face, threading into his hair, and then sliding down his body to grip tightly at his thigh and encourage Kurt to brace his leg over one of Noah’s. He felt small in that moment, so small beneath Noah’s heavy muscles. But it was safe too. He felt loved.

“We should probably go back upstairs,” Kurt suggested a few minutes after Noah gave him one more deep kiss and backed off. He was still catching his breath, they both were. And he knew they needed to cool down or it was going to be pretty obvious when the others got there.

Noah hovered over him, dipping down for a final peck when Kurt let his leg drop back down, and shoved himself the rest of the way up before letting out a random bark of laughter. 

“Don’t take this the wrong way, but you might want to put some lotion on your face.”

“Did you?! Oh my god, Noah!” Kurt yelled as he scrambled off the couch and ran for the bathroom. He let out another, “Noah!” after checking his face in the mirror.

“It’s just stubble burn,” Noah drawled out, still amused at Kurt’s distress. “A little aloe vera, it’ll be fine.”

Kurt sniffed at the suggestion. “I think I’ll stick to shea butter, thank you very much.” As he set about cleaning and treating his skin, Noah gave him a chuckle and headed back up to check on the casserole.

It was unfortunate timing though, because right after he opened the oven door, Finn walked into the kitchen. Apparently, he’d got there before Burt and Carole and had let himself in.

Noah knew Burt was talking about them possibly moving in, but the fact that Finn had just let himself in was irritating.

“Didn’t know you had a key, man,” he said over his shoulder.

Finn looked annoyed. “Well _you_ have one, so…”

“Difference is, Finnessa, I live here.” He could _not _do this. He couldn’t. Whatever it was that could have brought Noah and Finn back together was gone. It was just gone. And two seconds around the other guy had him resorting to ‘Puck’ to deal.

He ended up doing the only thing he could think of to keep from starting an actual argument with Finn right there in the kitchen. He retreated to the basement to stay with Kurt while they waited for Burt and Carole to get there.

Which thankfully didn’t take longer than another ten minutes or so.

Burt opened the basement door and walked down to see Noah on the couch leafing through a book on mechanics while Kurt was still in the bathroom ‘getting ready.’

“He’s been cutting back on the ‘prepping’ lately, hasn’t he?” Burt asked as he settled on the couch. He must not have noticed Noah tense, or seen how his eyes grew like saucers at the unfortunate choice of words when talking about his gay son, to his gay son’s live-in boyfriend _(?)_.

“Uh…” Noah stumbled over trying to form words for a second before shaking himself. “Yeah, sort of? But he still gets ready like that for school and stuff. I think he knows that tonight is important to you, or whatever.”

Burt nodded, checking the cover of the book Noah had dangling in his hands. He smiled when he saw it was the one he’d given to him a couple weeks before. “Carole’s upstairs with Finn. I wanted to talk to you guys for a few minutes first.”

Noah set the book on the coffee table and made his way over to the bathroom door, it was open a crack, but he knocked anyway. “Babe, your dad’s here. He wants to talk to us.”

Kurt tried to be smart about the stubble rash, explaining to his dad that he’d just tried a new exfoliator for the first time, and it was a bit more harsh than he’d been anticipating.

He couldn’t lie for shit.

Burt just snorted. “Son, do you think I missed the fact that Noah has a bad case of five o’clock shadow going on?”

“But… But, how?!” Kurt yelled, tossing the wet rag in his hands at Noah. “It hasn’t even been an hour!”

“Oh, kid,” Burt laughed at him. “Never play poker. Are you saying this,” he waived his arm between the two boys, “just started tonight?”

Noah decided to jump in with an explanation since Kurt was still grumpy about being found out so soon. “Yeah, I mean, Yes sir. We haven’t had too much time to talk about things, but I know how I feel. And I’m pretty sure he feels the same way as me.”

And that got Kurt snapping out of his funk and giving Noah heart eyes right in front of his dad. Burt gave them both a smile and sat them down for a talk. Noah took his original seat back, tucked into the corner of the couch and chaise, and Kurt crossed his legs under him on the rest of the open sectional.

“Noah, Kurt mentioned some things to me last week about you maybe not feeling safe with Beth around Finn.”

Kurt immediately tried to interject that it wasn’t _exactly _what he’d said, but Noah didn’t seem upset. Not at that, anyway.

“I’m sorry, Burt.” He gave Burt as honest a look as he could. “I know Finn and me, we got some history that’s still causing problems. But I can avoid him if I need to. And Beth’s never really alone anyway. If it comes down to it, I already talked to my ma, she said I could move back in if me and Beth need a place to go.”

“Noah, you didn’t tell me about that,” Kurt remarked, voice hushed.

“It’s not a big deal, princess.” He moved a little closer to Kurt so his arm could wrap behind the other boy’s body.

Burt shook his head and gave the boys a tired expression. “Noah, this is your home too. Do I want Carole to move in here? Yes. But not if it means you’re gonna feel like you need to leave.”

He rushed to get that look off the other man’s face. “I don’t feel like that, honest. I’m just saying, if it comes to it later, it’ll be okay.”

It didn’t really make either of the Hummel’s look like they were happy with anything. But Burt didn’t push further, and Kurt gave Noah a silent hug when they stood up.

The silence seemed to carry into the dinner. Every time Burt or Carole tried to start a conversation, it fell flat with the three mulish boys.

It was actually Finn who broke the silent stalemate between them. He made a comment to the table about not realizing that ‘Puck’ was living in the house and asked if his mom had kicked him out.

Kurt ignored the dig at the Puckerman family drama, and turned a steely glare towards Finn, “How could you _not _know?”

Burt interrupted and laid out the intentions for the evening. He wanted all three of them to be able to sit at the table and work together on burying the hatchet. “Carole and I are staying, but I think there might be some things each of you would like to say?”

Noah spoke up first. He responded to Burt’s idea about talking it out being something he wanted too, “But I’ll be honest here and say that I’m not sure about how he’s going to take my relationship with Kurt.”

He looked sincere when he said it, and his voice remained steady, if a bit apprehensive. Burt nodded like that was a good start, and looked over at Finn for a response.

Finn seemed to be confused by what Noah said before a look of sudden realization came over him. Realization, that quickly morphed into disgust.

“Wait, so you move into Kurt’s house and two seconds later you’re gay? What the hell? Everyone knows you sleep with anything that moves, but like, chicks dude.”

Noah stayed calm, but he put his fork down and pushed back from the table a little. “I’m not going to lie about who I am. I have slept with girls, obviously, I have Beth. But I’m attracted to men too. And Kurt’s not just some guy. I care about him and he cares about me.”

“Dude, Karofsky was right.” Finn didn’t even try to hide the repulsion on his face. And he didn’t notice Kurt gasp and lean in a little closer to his dad. But Burt sure did.

“Who’s Karofsky?” Burt asked. He’d intended to let the boy’s talk without interfering, but he also had a pretty good idea what Finn was alluding to.

His tone must have shocked the bigger boy though, because he looked back at the older man with an almost stricken face.

“He’s one of the bullies I had in school,” Kurt spoke up when it didn’t look like Finn was going to answer. “When I joined the football team, he told the other guys that if they spent too much time with me, they were going to… how did he put it? Oh yeah, ‘catch the gay’…”

He let it sit there for a moment, glaring at Finn, until Noah spoke up. “Is that what you think happened, Finn? That what Karofsky said was right, which since when are you friends with that douche? But you think me being around Kurt _turned_ me gay?”

“What, no,” Finn protested. “It’s just that… you were never into dudes, you know?”

Noah snorted meanly and smirked at his former best friend. “Dude, I’ve been into dudes since I was twelve and Jordie Anderson took his shirt off on the slip and slide.”

“But you never said anything.”

“Why would I,” Noah countered. “I knew how you felt about it. I’ve always known how you felt about it. And when we got to high school, I knew how everybody else felt about it. I might have joined in with picking on Kurt for being obvious, but I’ve apologized to him and his dad. I wasn’t going to move in here without it being in the open, what I’ve done to him. Although, I noticed you haven’t owned up to your part in all that.”

Carole looked at her son, seeming to be near tears. “Finn, honey, you weren’t bullying Kurt, were you?”

Finn glanced around the table to all of the faces staring back at him with either shame or accusatory glares. He started fidgeting in his seat like he was looking for an escape, before settling on Noah and getting angry. He couldn’t say _‘well he did it too,’_ because Noah had already explained that.

He pushed back from the table, getting up to tower over the rest of them before stalking out of the room and slamming the front door shut behind him when he left.

Carole dropped her head into her hands, shaking with sobs as Burt tried to comfort her. She tried to apologize to Kurt, but he waived it away immediately and told her she’d done nothing wrong.

Noah didn’t say anything, but he did get up to start clearing the table. He put on a pot of coffee for all of them and made sure to pack the rest of the casserole into a Tupperware container for Carole to take home with her.

She ended up staying for longer than one coffee. Noah and Kurt excused themselves to give her and Burt a little privacy. But about half an hour or so later, Burt led her downstairs to see them camped out on their couch with a horror movie playing on the tv.

“That’s a fitting genre for the evening,” she said with a tired little laugh. The two adults actually joined them for the rest of it with Carole curled up next to Burt and the both of them commenting on the horrifying concept of a demon girl crawling out of the tv at the end.

“It’s The Ring, dad,” Kurt laughed. “The sequel’s already out, you want me to put it on?”

“God no,” Carole answered for the room, earning a few more laughs. “It is getting late though…”

Burt told them that he was going to drive Carole home in her car since she’d had a pretty bad night. He asked Noah to drive behind him to bring him back, and the boy didn’t even let him finish before agreeing.

When Noah went to grab his keys from the coffee table, Kurt stopped him. “Absolutely not, you are not going out in pajama pants that have superman logos everywhere.”

“Babe, I’m not even getting out of the truck,” Noah reasoned with a grin.

“And you are _not_ wearing slippers!”

“They’re house shoes. And again, I’m not getting out of the truck.” He knew he’d be changing but he kind of liked seeing Kurt get so insistent.

“Carole,” Kurt turned to her with a pleasant smile, “While Noah changes, do you want a tour of the new basement?”

“Fine,” Noah groused good-naturedly. “But I’m pulling the jeans from earlier out of the hamper.”

Kurt closed his eyes on a deep breath as Noah went into the bathroom to do just that before taking Carole’s hand and showing her the nursery.

It took all of ten minutes to look around before they made their way back upstairs to head out. Noah gave Kurt a quick hug, whispering for him to use the deadbolt after they left. They’d heard a car pull up to the house earlier and assumed Finn had called a friend for a ride when Carole didn’t come out after him. But Noah didn’t like the feeling he’d picked up on from the other boy when he’d stormed out. It was never good when Finn internalized hostility. 

Thankfully, they made it back in under an hour and nothing had been amiss in their absence, but Noah had mentioned the key to Burt on the drive home. He wanted to trust Finn, but agreed to have the locks changed anyway. Turns out, Burt had never given Finn that key. He’d just mentioned they had a spare under a rock near the front porch.

“Hey princess,” Noah greeted him as they entered, “Guess how many times I had to get out of the truck while we were gone?”

Kurt rolled his eyes at the teasing. “That’s not the point, Noah. Any time you leave the house, there’s the chance that you’ll have to be out in public. No one needs to see your pajamas.”

Burt talked to both of them before heading off to bed. Just to make sure they didn’t feel like he and Carole had anything against them ‘being together’ or anything. But also to ask how they felt about him continuing to see her after what happened at dinner.

They assured him that Carole had nothing to do with the way Finn was acting, and that neither of them would ever hold it against her. Besides, no one could’ve really predicted how Finn was going to act.

But that wasn’t necessarily true. When Noah and Kurt made it to bed themselves, Kurt looked across the pillows at the other boy and asked, “Did you know that was going to happen?”

To his credit, Noah didn’t try and deny it. He apologized for saying what he did about them being together, for just blurting it out at the table like that.

“You did it to get a rise out of him, didn’t you?”

Noah gave him a smile. “You’re not friends with someone for that long without knowing where their buttons are. Yeah, I knew he was going to lose his shit. I’m sorry your dad had to see that.”

“I’m not,” Kurt answered. “I didn’t see it last year. Even with the bullying in freshman year, I never saw Finn as the bad guy. But he just seems like, I don’t know. There’s a lot of anger there. I can understand why you were concerned about Beth now. And I’m happy my dad can see it too.”

Noah pulled him in closer before settling half over the smaller boy under the blankets. “If you’re happy, then maybe you wouldn’t mind picking up where we left off…”

Kurt happily tilted his head up to accept the kiss from his _boyfriend_, pulling him all the way over his body. “Why, Noah, are you propositioning me?”

Noah ducked down, running his lips up Kurt’s neck before closing his teeth gently on the boy’s jaw before pulling back. “Ma’s watching Beth for the night and we’re all alone in this big bed… you bet your sweet ass I’m propositioning you.”

“Hmmm….” Kurt tilted his head to the side in consideration before giggling. “In that case, I’m thinking your shirt needs to go.”

Noah reared up, whipped off the shirt, and was back to devouring Kurt’s mouth before he could even appreciate the view. They hadn’t discussed how far things would go yet, so Noah wasn’t expecting the whole shebang that night. But a little making out, a little groping, a little grinding… Kurt definitely seemed on board with all of that, and Noah had never been happier for soundproofing in his life.


	4. Chapter 4

With the shorter school schedules, Kurt was able to look at the remainder of his scholastic career in a less ‘end-of-the-world’ type of way. Or maybe it was his role in caring for Beth. Or that any free hours Norah could give him during the week went to the garage. Or it could be that every night for the last week, he’d gone to bed with Noah trading kisses and cuddles and learning exactly how teenaged-boy his libido actually was.

Whatever the cause, his four hours a day in school just didn’t hold the same weight in the angst department that it had a year ago. The jocks had left him alone ever since Noah had told his dad what had been going on with the bullying. Neither Kurt nor Noah ever mentioned anyone by name, although Noah had admitted his own complicity.

But his dad had taken it to the district office immediately. He bypassed the school administration and went straight to the top. Which was how Kurt was able to work out his shortened schedule in the first place.

He’d heard the rumors when school was back in session; the ones about the entire football team and their parents being called into a meeting about the seriousness of bullying, and how McKinley was adopting a zero-tolerance policy. Carole had been the one to confirm that one, since she’d had to attend.

And then there were the security guards. They were in the halls, the cafeteria, and the parking lot. All day.

Kurt didn’t know why they hadn’t just put cameras in, but maybe it had something to do with his dad threatening to go to Channel 5 news with the story if the administration didn’t get their shit together.

It’s not that he wanted to make the school feel like it was on lockdown for the rest of the students, and he’d prefer not to be ‘watched’ by guards everywhere he went. But the school had let him down before, even the teachers. Even the guidance counselor. It was ridiculous, how they just seemingly thrown hundreds of teenagers in a building and what? Hoped for the best?

So, the harassment had stopped. The slushie machine was gone. The football team developed either better manners, or a less noticeable footprint. And Kurt was able to get his required classes done in peace.

His friends in Glee were still there, and he performed with them in school. But they hadn’t had any competitions outside of school yet. Not that it was time for that, but everything to do with that school seemed to be more muted since classes started back up.

When Mercedes had given him a choice between her friendship, and one with Noah. Kurt hadn’t thought twice. He’d picked Noah. Obviously.

The other boy had never asked him to do what Mercedes did. In fact, he seemed taken aback when Kurt blurted out the reason he hadn’t been spending time with ‘the girls’ like he used to.

Glee was part of his agreement with the school, though. So he still had to go. And he enjoyed singing, he really did. He’d be happy to belt out the lyrics to his favorite songs on the drive home, he didn’t crave the spotlight like Rachel did. He didn’t _need_ to be a star.

Sure, he’d loved dressing up and performing last year. But a lot of that had been him trying to find that one place where he belonged. He’d honestly thought he’d found it. But watching everything that went down when babygate happened, and then having his friend’s ire directed towards himself when he’d defended Noah…

He’d never imagined that their friendship had been conditional. And that wasn’t a hurt he planned on letting go any time soon. He sang with Glee. And he put up with Rachel’s comments about him, veiled as they were. But he couldn’t help that his heart wasn’t in it anymore.

Besides, there was a little girl at home who needed his attention way more than his classmates did. And the thought made Kurt happy as he packed his things up and made his way out of the choir room that Friday.

All of that happiness came to a crashing halt the minute he walked in his house though.

The first thing he heard was the screaming. Beth was usually such a quiet baby. She cried for attention when she was hungry, or needed to be changed, or when she woke up from a nap. But once they saw to her needs and brought her into company, she settled pretty quickly.

This was a prolonged scream. Shrieking was more like it. At first he thought Norah had left her alone. But, no. When he came into the kitchen she was there, pacing around the small space with Beth in her arms, trying to soothe her.

“She’s been like this for the last hour,” Norah said, to his shock. “Sweetheart, run out to my car, would you. Grab the blue bag from the trunk.”

Kurt hastily accepted the keys she held out, practically running back out the front door. It was a medical bag that Norah sorted through until she pulled out a digital thermometer.

“She’s still under six months, so we’re going to do this the old fashioned way.” Norah laid out a blanket from Beth’s carrier on the table and directed Kurt to lay her down and unfasten the diaper.

It didn’t take long to get a reading, and Norah calmly redressed the tiny girl, fastened her into her carrier and looked over at Kurt, who had yet to find any words for the situation.

“Here’s what we’re going to do,” Norah told him with a firm, but kind voice. “We’re going out to my car, getting Beth strapped in the back, and then I’m going to drive us to the hospital while you call Noah.”

“The Nav…” Kurt whispered.

Norah shook her head. “It’s easier to take my car. I have a placard that can get us closer to the ER doors. Now, come on.” She picked up Beth’s carrier with the baby still screaming her head off.

It was horrible. Everything was horrible. Beth was screaming, and she must be in pain to cry like that. And Kurt could do _literally nothing_ to make it better. If this had happened after Norah had left for the day, he had no idea what he would’ve done. Did they even have one of those thermometers? He thought they did, but he wasn’t sure. And where did she get that Mary Poppins bag of tricks from? He wanted one of those too. God, this was so, so bad.

“Kurt,” Norah called to him across the car. “Kurt.” She shook his arm a little and he snapped back to his immediate surroundings. “Kurt, you need to call Noah. Tell him to meet us at the ER.”

He did. That was something he could do, so he did it. But his dad was the one who answered Noah’s phone. He started out with some kind of teasing comment, but just the sound of his dad’s voice had Kurt nearly breaking down in tears.

He was scared, very scared for Beth. And he wanted his dad. He didn’t even realize how much until he heard him speak.

Burt caught on quickly and tried to get Kurt to focus when he started stammering. Finally, he was able to tell his dad, somewhat coherently, that Beth was sick and he needed to get Noah and come to the hospital.

He answered a few questions as best he could, but they needed to get there. Now, please.

The rest of the very short drive was filled with Beth’s cries, and Kurt’s silent tears.

Noah came running in less than five minutes after they got there. Beth had been taken back behind the swinging doors, and Kurt had been told to wait for the others in the lobby. As soon as Noah collided with him, he grabbed Kurt into a tight hug.

One of the nurses at the desk came around to lead them into the back, where Norah already was. She assured them she’d bring Burt back when he came in.

It was the scariest thing that had happened in longer than Kurt could remember. And he could see the same fear on Noah’s face when they saw Beth on the bed with a doctor examining her.

Norah had already changed into a pair of scrubs and was standing by, assisting where needed. She was the grandmother, but she was so _calm_ about everything that Kurt spared a moment for admiration and gratitude.

If she was calm, he could be calm. He kept up that silent mantra while they figured out what was wrong.

“And there it is,” the doctor murmured. “What was the first temperature?”

“102.4,” Norah answered.

“Yeah, it’s a bad one,” he agreed. “You’re the father?”

He asked Noah, clearly directing the question at him even though he’d never even looked up at them once.

“Yes, yes I am,” Noah replied quickly.

“Good. She’s going to need antibiotics, I’ll be starting her on that here. And some fluids. Has she been sick recently?”

“She uh… she had a bit of a sniffle a couple days ago, but it never turned into a cough or anything.”

The doctor nodded and sorted out the IV he would need. “It happens like that sometimes. Ear infections in children are pretty common. They usually come after the child has a cold, but sometimes the cold doesn’t appear to be severe enough to worry the parent.”

Noah was nodding his head back, but he still looked upset about everything. And Kurt could attest to the strong emotions given Noah’s grip on his hand was close to crushing.

Burt showed up just as the doctor was getting the needle in. “I’m going to give her a pain reliever here, but children’s Tylenol will be fine for home care.”

“We’ve got that at home,” Burt assured them. He gave Kurt’s shoulder a hard squeeze and pulled Noah in for a hug when he noticed the older man standing there. “It’ll be fine kid. Babies get sick. But she’s going to be fine.”

Kurt moved forward for his own hug after Noah stepped back. He’d kept it together for long enough, and Burt gave him his own reassurances to keep him from losing it all together.

They let the small group of four accompany Beth’s gurney to one of the small rooms along the side of the ER. It had a door, and things would be quieter there. She wasn’t being admitted fully, but the doctor wanted her to stay there for the next several hours to make sure the antibiotic was doing what it was supposed to, and check for any adverse reactions to the meds.

By the time they were pulling into their driveway several hours later, dinner time had come and gone, and they were all exhausted.

Norah had been talked into pulling an actual shift on the floor since she was there and dressed, but Burt had stayed with them for the entire time at the hospital. He’d stepped away exactly one time to call Carole and let her know what was going on. So, maybe it shouldn’t have been a surprise when she was sitting in her car in the drive when they arrived.

Beth was back in her carrier, with blankets almost drowning the poor baby in the seat. Noah was concerned for the colder weather, and rightfully so. It was freezing. But she was a trooper. Whatever meds they gave her allowed for some respite from the pain and she appeared to be taking advantage of that to sleep.

She hadn’t sought out a bottle when she’d woken up in the little ER room, but the doctor assured them that her appetite would be affected by the infection somewhat. However, if she was still refusing food in the next forty-eight hours, they needed to bring her back. 

Carole met them in the drive with covered dishes that Burt took off her hands for her. Thank god for that woman. She’d cooked them food and wasn’t even offended Noah and Kurt only grabbed a quick bite before seeing themselves downstairs for bed.

Kurt figured it had something to do with the fact that Burt and Carole both followed them down to see Beth be placed in her crib for the night.

“She’s such a little angel,” Carole whispered. “You must have been so scared.”

Noah nodded and grabbed the baby monitor to turn it all the way up, but Kurt gave Carole a little smile. “I’m just really happy Norah knew what to do. Your mom, Noah…”

Kurt had been the one to see Norah every day during the ‘changing of the guards’ routine at the house. So he’d had time to get to know her for the last couple months. Her relationship with her son had been improving, and she adored Beth. There really wasn’t any reason for Kurt to hold her past against her if Noah wasn’t.

But that night, he’d started looking up to her. She just _knew_ what to do. And Kurt wanted to say the same thing about himself one day. It was kind of like the cars at his dad’s shop. When something was wrong with them, he knew how to fix it. Even the day-to-day with Beth; when she cried, he’d felt like he _knew_ what to do to make it better.

That day though. When Beth was screaming, he didn’t know how to do anything.

He could feel an obsession coming on. One that would inevitably lead to a research binge. But one look over at Noah’s sleepy face and he quickly shifted to bedtime mode.

“Carole’s going to sleep here tonight,” Burt told them quietly. “She wants to cook breakfast for us in the morning.”

Kurt gave her a hug and thanks before seeing them back to the stairs. Noah had stayed behind in their room to get changed, but he did give his own thanks to both adults before he shut the door.

“She didn’t mention Finn at all,” Noah muttered when Kurt came to join him in bed.

He’d started to wear less make-up during the day than he used to, so his nightly skincare routine took less time than it would have last year. Still, by the time he was sliding under the covers, Noah was half asleep already.

“Nope, not even right before she left.” He shifted on his side and let Noah burrow closer, liking the fact that the other boy was wanting to be held rather than holding him. A rare occurrence. “Have you talked to my dad about that at all this week?”

They were pretty good about communication, sharing their days with each other in the evenings. But Kurt hadn’t brought up the disaster of a family dinner the week before. And Beth didn’t need to be sick for Kurt to know that the family dinner they would have normally had that night would’ve been cancelled anyway.

Noah grunted in reply. He really was close to sleep, but the sub-vocal sound brought a smile of affection to Kurt’s face. “We can talk about it in the morning,” he murmured into the short hair Noah had kept. “Go to sleep.”

* * *

Beth slept pretty peacefully for most of the night. But the morning brought back the screaming, and her first bottle of the day was accompanied by liquid Tylenol and the antibiotics the doctor had sent home with them.

She was eating at least, which had been Kurt’s biggest fear. “We need to call her pediatrician on Monday,” he told Noah when the other boy sat down on the couch to give Beth her bottle. “Get him the discharge notes from the ER.”

“Ma said she’d take care of it,” Noah reminded him. It hadn’t even been twenty-four hours, and they had gotten decent sleep that night. But it felt like a lot more time had passed.

There was a knock at the door and Kurt called up that it was open. When Burt came downstairs Noah whispered that he didn’t have to knock, like it should’ve been obvious.

“I know kid, but it’s polite,” Burt told him, earning a shrug. “How’d she sleep?”

“Perfect.” Noah smiled down at Beth’s tiny hands clutching at the bottle as she fed. “The doc said she might not like swallowing, but she’s been doing really good so far.”

“Is Carole already cooking?” Kurt asked, noticing Burt had a coffee cup in his hand. He got a nod back and excused himself to go up and help out.

Burt turned back to the boy sitting on the couch and looking a bit angry at himself. “Hey,’ he called to get his attention. “Kids get sick, son. It happens. But they bounce back quick most times. And I promise you none of this was your fault.”

Noah nodded, but didn’t say anything. Burt could tell he was going to try and internalize it, so he tried to get him out of his head for a minute. “Did you have a chance to look over that paperwork I gave you?”

The distraction seemed to be a good one because it had Noah shifting up and handing the empty bottle over to Burt. He shifted Beth onto his shoulder and the waiting burping towel, but he also got up to open a drawer in the console table at the foot of the stairs.

He brought the stack of papers over to Burt, watching as the man flipped through them and rubbing small circles on Beth’s back.

“You know why I listed you, don’t you?” Burt asked, looking up at Noah.

The seriousness hadn’t left the boy’s face since they got Kurt’s call the day before. And the topic Burt wanted to discuss deserved nothing less than complete understanding of the gravity of it all.

“With the emancipation, I’m the adult. Kurt’s still seventeen and a minor.”

Burt nodded back. “God forbid anything happens before he turns eighteen. But if it does, paperwork to have him declared an adult is in the file cabinet at the shop. It won’t be an immediate thing though, so someone’s name needs to be on the house and the garage.”

“But you’re fine, right?”

He smiled, hoping to get rid of the concern on the young man’s face. “Cancer and heart problems run in the family, kid. I’m just being cautious, that’s all.”

“I’m telling my Ma,” Noah told him with a newfound firmness. “She’s going to start making you heart-healthy shit till it’s coming out of your ears.”

Burt laughed. “You do that son. Just remember that if I have to eat it for dinner, so do you.”

“No, no. Not just for dinner,” Noah insisted. “It’s going to be all you eat, twenty-four-seven. You better enjoy that breakfast they’re making upstairs. Starting Monday, it’s egg white omelets and a side of fruit.”

Burt gave a good-natured grumble before standing and leading the way up the stairs. If it was one of his last greasy meals, he was going to enjoy it.

But he knew Noah was right. Putting his name on the deeds was a preventative step, but so were lifestyle changes. And he hadn’t had a check up in a while… Beth’s trip to the hospital the night before had made him start think he should probably get on that.

Telling Carole and Kurt at breakfast though, that was something he could’ve avoided for a while longer. Too bad Noah didn’t see it that way.

“What is going on in this house?” Kurt exclaimed over his food. “Beth has an ear infection, and you’re talking about cancer! I’m making appointments for _all _of us on Monday. When’s the last time you had a physical? I know I had one last year for football, so Noah had to’ve had one too. But you? When’s the last time you went to a doctor?”

Burt didn’t have an answer that wouldn’t set Kurt off. Not that the silence was any better. And given how Carole was looking at him like she was disappointed, he figured he’d be in an exam room before the next week was out.

“Say goodbye to the frozen pizza’s dad,” Kurt pushed away from the table to storm over to the fridge and rip open the doors. “And the frozen burritos! I know you have those for a midnight snack. And what’s this? Tater-tots? I didn’t put those in here. And oh look, not a shred of lettuce in sight.”

They left him to his grumbling, laughing when Noah told him that he’d given Burt till Monday and Kurt responded by asking if Noah thought he gave a shit before pulling the garbage bin over to start dumping the ‘saturated fats.’

“I should thank you for being a bad influence on his vocabulary,” Burt accused Noah.

But Noah adamantly shook his head and contended, “He hears way worse from the guys at the shop.”

Carole got up to grab a pad of paper from the counter and start writing out a list of better foods to buy.

“Oh, thank you Carole,” Kurt told her sweetly when he saw what she was doing. “We’ll go shopping after I’m done here if you want to come with me. At least I’ll have _someone_ in this house taking this seriously.”

“Of course, honey,” Carole replied absentmindedly as she continued to jot down her list of groceries.

Kurt excused himself to get dressed after lugging the full trash bag outside. He checked in with Noah to see if he wanted them to pick up anything, but aside from toothpaste they were good.

It was going to be an easy Saturday. Burt and Noah were going to stay home from work with Beth, and Kurt was going to go buy enough healthy food to feed an army.

At least that was the plan until Kurt walked got a few steps out of the front door. “Wha…” he slurred in disbelief, looking at his SUV. “Dad!” he shouted back into the house.

Carole was already coming out, but the distress in Kurt’s tone quickly had Burt and Noah both joining them on the front steps.

The tires on the driver’s side of the Nav were flat. When Burt walked around the vehicle, he saw the other side was the same. Beyond the tires, there was no visible damage, but it had been out there, presumably all night on flat tires. The rims were probably messed up by now too.

Burt gave Carole a look and told her to take Kurt shopping in his truck. It would be better to get him out of the way while he called the cops.

Noah took a now sleeping Beth back in and settled her in her crib before grabbing the baby monitor from his nightstand and joining Burt back upstairs to wait for the officers.

“It’s good you sent him away, he’d still be freaking out if he was here,” he told Burt. That easy Saturday vibe was long gone from the other man. Hell, it was long gone from Noah too.

“There’s no vandalism,” Burt mentioned. “Besides the tires, there’s no graffiti or anything. But they didn’t touch Carole’s car, or my truck. It’s just Kurt’s.”

When the officer arrived, he introduced himself as Anderson and he agreed that it did seem targeted. It’d been cold the night before, really cold. So, they checked that it wasn’t just leaking air. Even though that seemed unlikely with all four tires deflated at the same time.

But no. There were tears they could see in the sides of the two closest tires, made by a knife no doubt.

“That’s stupid of them,” Noah commented. “Kurt just had those tires filled when he was at the shop on Thursday. They’re lucky it didn’t blow out on them.”

“Have you noticed anyone hanging around?” The officer asked. “Anyone giving him trouble?”

“No, he would’ve said something,” Noah shook his head.

Burt mentioned that there’d been some bullying at school the year before. He explained how with his son being ‘out’ among his peers, that not everyone was very accepting.

Noah added his own information about himself, and that while they kept a low profile, he’d experienced the odd comment here or there in the halls over the last week. Apparently, telling Finn about him and Kurt being together at dinner last Friday meant that everyone in school knew about it before that next Monday.

“But with the security guards being there, nobody really did anything besides talking.”

The officer took notes, and added that if a bully was determined, sometimes they branched out on their methods when their primary avenue was taken away. He’d heard of the security company being hired by the school district and had thought it was a good idea at the time. “Sad to say it, but if this was one of the kids at school, we’re looking at a juvenile case versus adult. Less repercussions. You said there was an infant in the home last night?”

“Yeah, my daughter,” Noah confirmed. “She turned five months last week.”

“That might up the weight of it,” the officer added. “I grew up here, and I know Lima isn’t known for it’s _acceptance_ really, but I’ve been a cop for three years now. My husband and I never have a problem anymore. You just gotta get past high school, kid. It gets better.”

“Dude, you’re gay?” He got a chuckle from both Burt and the cop.

“I’m bi, actually,” he smiled over at Noah. “But when I met Steve in college, that was it for me. Our marriage isn’t recognized in Ohio, but he knew I wanted to come home, so we made our life here. I’d be happy to talk to you and your boyfriend if you ever want someone to download to. And Steve loves ‘mentoring the youth,’ so…”

Noah laughed at that, telling the officer that he didn’t look that much older than them before stopping, “Wait, Anderson… _Jordie_ Anderson?”

The officer let out a loud bark of a laugh. “No ones called me Jordie since I graduated high school.”

“Small world,” Burt grinned. “Noah, are you blushing?” 

Officer Anderson gave him a smug grin, but Noah couldn’t find the words to retort beyond ‘pfft’ and an eye roll.

“The way Noah tells it, you used to have fun on the slip-and-slide when you were younger.” And Jesus, was Burt _trying_ to kill him with embarrassment?

He got a few more digs in, and Anderson laughed but told Noah that he was flattered before turning the conversation back to the vehicle. Burt had already called a tow from the shop and they were going to follow the officer back to the impound to process it. The doors had still been locked, and it really wasn’t damaged beyond the slashing, but they would dust for prints and then collect a copy from anyone who should be excluded.

With visits to the doctors, and visits to the police station, the next week was shaping up to be pretty busy.

Kurt and Carole had taken longer than they thought it would be. But that made sense when they brought in not just groceries, but also bags of healthy eating cookbooks from a little detour they’d made to Barnes and Noble.

The rest of the weekend was spent, for Kurt at least, reading as much as he could from the books and adding in research from the internet. By the time he started on his homework Sunday evening, he’d planned out their meals for the next week.

Burt and Noah carpooled on Monday so Kurt could have Noah’s truck to get to school, but apart from scheduling doctor’s visits and then heading down to the police station for an evening, nothing huge happened really.

Kurt got the Nav back on Tuesday afternoon. Or what actually happened was that Noah and Burt went to get it from the police and took it back to the shop for new rims and tires. Kurt didn’t actually get it back until Tuesday night.

Beth recovered very well, and after a Monday and Thursday appointment with her regular pediatrician, she showed no signs of her previous fever.

Burt’s appointment on the other hand didn’t go as well. His doctor was bringing him in for more tests the next week, stating that his cholesterol levels were beyond even the high end of normal. And his blood pressure wasn’t any better. It was good that he’d started eating better, but his doctor said he would’ve preferred it if Burt had chosen to do that two years prior.

It made for a tense Kurt when Burt had shared the news over dinner. He wasn’t trying to scare his son, and they were getting things checked out. But the doctor had mentioned the possibility of surgery depending on what the tests showed that next week. They had a plan, and they were getting things under control.

Still, Noah had to pull him under his body later that night and firmly tell him that his ‘hovering’ wasn’t helping any of them stay calm.

“I know you’re scared, babe,” Noah said before smoothing out the ruffled feathers with a kiss. “He is too. But he’s trying to put on a brave face for you, so maybe cut him some slack on the morning coffee thing, huh?”

“Noah, caffeine isn’t good for people with heart conditions,” Kurt pouted back.

He gave Kurt a soft smile. “No, but we’re not sure he has an actual heart condition yet. Let’s wait until the tests next week.”

Kurt huffed, but he was returning each kiss Noah gave him, so the calming method seemed to be working.

“By the way,” Noah grinned, “Did your dad mention who the officer was that showed up for the Nav?”

“No, he just said you knew him.” Kurt sent up a confused face at the change in topic.

Noah shifted them until he had Kurt’s legs wrapped around the outside of his thighs, sliding his hands up under the smaller boy’s shirt to wrap underneath him. The action slid Kurt’s shirt up as Noah’s forearms moved higher up his back, and he took the opportunity to shift down a little to plant kisses and nibbles across Kurt’s ribs.

It always sent Kurt’s breathing into short little gasps when Noah did that. It was one of his favorite reactions from his boyfriend and he loved the responsiveness.

“You remember me telling you about Jordie Anderson…”


	5. Chapter 5

“Kurt, honey,” Carole called down the stairs. “Do you have that cookbook with the Mediterranean dishes we picked up?”

Kurt had been sitting on the couch when she opened the door, and he quickly slammed shut the book he’d been looking at, shoving it into the cushions.

Carole grinned. She had an idea of exactly what book he’d been looking at. She’d caught a glimpse of it the week before when they stopped at Barnes and Noble before getting groceries. Kurt had hurriedly shoved it into his own messenger bag after paying for it, but it wasn’t about food.

It was almost cute. She knew he’d just turned seventeen, and that Noah was the same age. They were teenagers, so getting a little reading (though she was pretty sure that book had plenty of pictures covering the pages) in about the ‘joys of gay sex’ wasn’t anything she was going to tease him over.

She loved Beth. She thought the world of that little girl. But she couldn’t deny feeling _slightly_ relieved that Noah and Kurt could explore to their hearts desire and the possibility of another baby remained non-existent.

Honestly, Carole thought the homophobic parents of Lima were out of their minds. Who _wouldn’t_ want a gay teenager in their house? They were going to have sex anyway; it’s what teenagers do. Having a partner of the same sex meant zero chance for happy little ‘accidents.’

Kurt popped up from the couch and went over to his little kitchen to grab the cookbook off the counter. They’d dogeared some pages they both liked the week before and Carole was looking for one in particular that night.

“Dad’s at the doctor’s with Noah,” Kurt reminded her. “He said it was better if Noah went with him so I wasn’t freaking out the whole time.”

She could tell he wasn’t offended, and was almost laughing at what he knew his own reaction would be. But she could also tell he was happy his dad wasn’t alone.

It was Thursday, and normally on Thursday Norah stayed a little later so Kurt could join his dad and Noah at the garage. But with the doctor’s visit, and then when they headed down to the police station the night before, Kurt had opted to stay home to get caught up on his ‘studying’ before the week was out.

Carole coming over for dinner on Thursday night instead of Friday, or maybe as well as Friday, was new. But his dad had talked to him about giving Carole a key. After the Finn-key situation, the locks had been changed, and Burt had talked to Carole about what the new key was for… or rather _who_ it was for.

It was for Carole, and Carole alone. Finn had been staying out of his own house lately, according to his mom. Which meant she hadn’t had the time to sit him down and talk about boundaries. But it also meant she hadn’t been able to tell him about the locks being changed either.

“Whatever the news, good or bad, let’s make them something nice to come home to,” she suggested.

Kurt smiled back, happy for the direction. “Let me just grab the monitor.”

He and Noah were letting Beth stay where she was if she was sleeping that week, wanting her to have as much uninterrupted sleep as she could get to recover. So, if either of them left the basement while she was in her crib, they always brought the monitor with them.

Cooking with Carole was fun for Kurt. He’d been too young when his mom passed to really have a chance for that kind of thing. And Carole never said no to an extra pair of hands in the kitchen. She was a good mom, he could tell. Noah had vouched for her on that front. And she was good for his dad. He was honestly happy she was in their lives.

“So I think I talked Finn into coming for dinner on Friday if you and Noah are okay with that,” she told him as they sorted out the ingredients.

Kurt paused in his dicing, not wanting to be tense with such a sharp knife in his hands. “Oh yeah?”

“He stopped in for dinner two nights ago,” She said. “He didn’t stay long, said he had plans with the ‘boys.’ Some big project you guys were all working on in Glee? That’s why he’s been out late most nights.”

Kurt put the knife down. He had a choice to make here.

On the one hand, it was sort of a teenager code that he didn’t rat Finn out to his mom about the lie. And it was a lie. Kurt was still in Glee, he would know if there was an event to prepare for. There wasn’t. But whatever it was Finn was doing, he clearly didn’t want his mom to question it.

On the other hand, he liked Carole. She’d been good to them so far, and he didn’t want to lie to her. Even with the knowledge that Finn had been a bully out in the open, he was still her son. And honestly, he was never really _that _bad. He just never went out of his way to be _good_ either.

He didn’t want to pile on with the ‘tear Finn down’ campaign by exposing he had lied to his mom, but he didn’t really feel a burning desire to cover for him either.

Should he talk to Noah first? Maybe his dad? They’d probably be good with the advice.

Then again, no. This was a position Kurt was in, not them. He just hoped he was making the right call. “Carole,” he started, stepping away from the counter and grabbing a towel to dry his hands. He let out a loud sigh and resolved himself. “We don’t have any projects in Glee right now.”

He noticed her movements still for a moment. But besides ducking her head, she didn’t say anything for a few tense moments.

“The other night… You mentioned the other night that the other kids in Glee weren’t talking to you as much anymore…” She cringed at how awful that sounded but still asked, “Is it possible they might not have told you?”

He wasn’t actually hurt by having that truth spoken. If anything, he felt worse for her.

He shook his head and told her quietly that, “Santana would have told me. She and Brittany still talk to me. They actually asked me about Noah the other day, and Beth. They wanted to come by and do a late baby shower or something. Well, the gifts anyway. They would’ve said something if there was a group thing. Or even Mr. Schue.”

She turned around to look at him and it got really hard for Kurt to meet her eyes. He didn’t like giving people bad news. But he’d made his decision, so he figured he owed it to her to see it through.

“I’m sorry,” he said as sincerely as he could.

“Oh sweetie, you don’t have to be sorry.” She gave him a sad looking smile and turned back to the stove. He didn’t join her that time, not wanting to pick the knife back up just then. But she must have a better handle at composing herself than he did, because she finished dicing up the zucchini.

“He seemed upset when he left here last week, maybe he was just processing everything?” Kurt offered. “If he said he wants to come to dinner tomorrow then maybe he’s over it now.”

“I’m sure that’s it.” She sent him a quick smile over her shoulder, but something about her body language told Kurt that she wasn’t magically better. “We’ll see what happens tomorrow, I just… I don’t know what’s going on with him anymore.”

“I’m not sure if I’m the best person to try and analyze Finn’s psyche,” he said, trying to bring a little cheer back.

“Oh, I know,” she assured him. “I can talk to Burt when he gets back tonight.”

He assumed she did that after dinner, but then again maybe not. By the time Noah led him downstairs later that night, he wasn’t in the right headspace to even think about Finn.

The doctor’s appointment had _not_ gone well. In fact, his regular physician was sending him to a specialist at the hospital to get even more tests done the next week. Apparently, his levels weren’t just ‘off,’ they were now considered ‘alarming.’

Noah and his dad had repeatedly said throughout the meal that it was a good thing they were catching the problem early. But there was no hiding the fact that the time for prevention had come and gone in the doctor’s opinion. And Kurt knew enough, or rather, his dad let enough slip, that he was aware there had been some symptoms his dad had been ignoring.

He was trying, he really was, to look at this as a silver lining that they were able to do something about it now. But the answer that kept coming up was surgery. Still, his dad was going to meet with the Cardiologist to see if angioplasty was a better option first. It sure sounded better than full-on surgery. And his dad wouldn’t have to be checked in to the hospital even.

He didn’t pray, but if he did, that’s what he would ask for.

Praying or not, he was able to get at least a few hours of sleep that night. Nothing like what he was used to, even with Beth. And it wasn’t what he would call _restful, _really. But it was sleep.

He noticed Finn giving him looks in school the next day and assumed it was about the other boy coming to dinner later that night. Even with the amount of coffee he’d had that morning, by the time the last bell rang, he was dragging. So being concerned or even interested in what was going on in Finn’s head that would make the boy watch him throughout the day… it wasn’t at the top of his priorities.

His dad was home when he got there. Noah was still at the garage, but apart from going in for a few hours that morning, Burt was taking a break from work until the doctors cleared him. Norah had still come over to take care of Beth, and Kurt was happy she had.

“Blood pressure’s still high, but it’s not any worse,” she told him as soon as he walked in the door.

Having Norah there had put Kurt at ease that a trained ER nurse was able to watch over his dad and make sure Beth was truly recovered as well.

“Let’s leave out the high part,” Burt joked. “He’ll fixate on that and forget the good part.”

“Dad,” Kurt chided. “I’m remembering the good parts. I promise.” He set his bag down on the table and went over to the fridge to grab some juice.

“Sure, because last night you were the very picture of understanding and optimism.”

Kurt rolled his eyes. “Last night I was getting bad news confirmed. Also last night, Noah reminded me that I should try staying positive. That’s what we’re doing.”

He smiled when he noticed Norah setting a pill dispenser, the kind that had the days of the week marked, on the counter. Yeah, having a nurse around was much better than not.

“Honey, am I taking Beth tonight?” She asked, coming over to sit at the table with the two of them.

Kurt frowned for a moment and asked when her services were again. “I know Noah won’t be done at the garage until later, closer to dinner time. Let me see what he wants to do.”

He sent off a quick text, knowing that it might take a minute for a response. Noah usually left his phone in the office if he was working on a car, but after the hospital visit and then with Burt’s own situation, he’d taken to carrying it on his person.

Still, if he was elbow deep in the hood of a car, he might not check a text immediately.

“That’s fine,” Norah waived it away. “She’s welcome with us anytime, you know that.”

She meant it too. After mending things with her son, Norah got her head out of her ass (her words) and was putting her life in better order. She’d moved out of her house, the one where the mortgage had been killing her, and moved back in with her mom.

It worked out better for the rest of her family anyway. Noah’s little sister, Sarah was already going to school on the other side of town because she’d been living at her Nana’s and that’s where the buses ran. So having her mom finally give up on the crappy little house that ate all of her money, and move into her Nana’s house was better. She was still young enough that it would be easier to recover from having an absentee parent than it had with Noah.

It was a three bedroom in an established community, and it was the house Norah had grown up in. Nana hadn’t minded at all. She wasn’t getting any younger and having help around the place was good for her too. 

They didn’t have a separate space for the nursery, but Sarah had insisted a crib could go in her room for Beth whenever she could stay over.

Kurt was about to respond when his phone pinged with an incoming text. Noah had gotten back to him sooner than he’d thought, saying it was fine with him.

He relayed the news, but they stayed at the table to chat for a bit longer about the ‘old neighborhood’ at Norah’s house, and how it was a quiet, child-friendly little area. And quite unique in a place like Lima.

“Maybe that’s the problem, dad,” Kurt joked. “We’ve been living on the wrong side of town this whole time.”

It was a joke, but it led to sharing the whole situation about the tire slashing with Norah. She wasn’t happy. “I can’t imagine that happening in our neighborhood. But maybe it’s because most of the neighbors have been there since forever. They’re all my mother’s age for the most part. We don’t get a lot of hoodlums.”

“Honestly, we don’t get a lot of that here either,” Kurt told her as they heard a key in the front door.

Carole came in with bags of groceries, and he shot up to help her unload and sort for dinner. They filled her in on the topic for discussion while Norah took another reading of Burt’s blood pressure, noting it down on the pad she’d laid out next to the pills earlier.

“Oh no,” Carole added. “This neighborhood is a lot better than the one my house is in, but even so… The police said the vandalism rate _has_ gone up.”

Burt hadn’t interjected too much into the conversation, being more amused with watching it all happen around him. And the idea of his family living in an unwelcoming area wasn’t something he wanted to consider just then anyway. His doctor told him to lay off the stress, so after a sincere thank you to Norah, and a proper greeting for Carole, he excused himself to the living room to nap in front of the TV before dinner.

Noah woke him up later, and Burt noticed the young man had obviously been home long enough to get showered and changed. He could smell the food from the kitchen and smiled at the anticipation of another ‘healthy’ dish that he’d never heard of being served.

Kurt and Carole had dived in headfirst with the whole ‘better diet’ thing, and despite knowing it was supposed to be healthier, it had actually been tastier too. 

Noah tossed himself down on the couch next to Burt’s recliner, flipping through the channels until he settled on a random game to veg out to while they waited for dinner to be ready. Burt had never imagined when he’d first brought Noah home that the young man would have been such a calming influence on their house. Especially with an infant coming along too. But he had; for both Burt and for his son.

It was also helpful when the doorbell rang and Burt didn’t have to get up because Noah was already on it.

Unfortunately, that didn’t last long. Instead of seeing Finn walk in the house like he expected, no one came in, and he could hear a slightly raised voice from Noah on the other side of the front door.

It all made sense when he opened that door, and saw Noah standing there with his arms crossed as he glared at not only Finn, but also the blond cheerleader and mother of Noah’s child.

“What’s going on?” Burt asked the three teenagers.

When no one spoke up, Noah finally snorted and nodded over to the other two, “I don’t know. Bu Finn should be able to explain.”

“I just thought…” Finn started. “Well, it’s ‘family’ dinner, right? And Quinn’s Beth’s mom.”

“Finn, that’s not what you said…” Quinn spoke up before closing her mouth and looking between Noah and Finn in confusion. She seemed to spark on something, and turned a sad look down at the ground right around the time Kurt came outside and asked the same question his father had.

Noah didn’t look like he wanted to be there, but at the same time, he wasn’t about to leave Kurt or his dad alone.

“Finn decided that Quinn needed to see my daughter,” Noah spat out. “But something tells me he didn’t run it by her first.”

And now Quinn just look uncomfortable.

“Considering Beth isn’t even here, that’s going to be a little difficult,” Kurt directed his disappointment at Finn.

That was the thing with Kurt. He didn’t have to say anything too terrible, really. It was _the way_ he said it that made people feel like they were five years old and getting scolded by the nanny.

“Quinn, would you like a ride home?” Kurt asked. He stepped back inside for his coat and keys when she gave him a silent nod.

Finn started to protest for half a second before Quinn found her backbone and told him in no uncertain terms that she was going home.

“Finn, buddy. What were you thinking?” Burt asked the kid. He noticed Finn’s face getting a little splotchy with frustration, but he didn’t answer.

What he did do, and why Noah was happy he’d stayed outside, was scramble away from Kurt when he went to guide Quinn away from the group. Like he didn’t want the smaller boy to accidentally touch him.

It had both Burt and Noah’s faces turn to shock even more than the rest of the situation. But Noah’s turned angry a second later after seeing Kurt give the action a split-second’s worth of sadness.

Kurt had never been okay with being bullied. He really hadn’t. He supposed some people were able to let that kind of thing slide off their back. And maybe if it was just because he dressed differently, or talked differently, he might have too.

But it hadn’t been about that. Kurt was bullied because he was gay. Not all the time. Not by everyone. But by some of them at least, it had been because they _hated_ him for being gay.

And that had hurt to realize. That someone could absolutely despise him, without ever speaking to him, simply because of who he loved.

“Kurt, wait,” Noah called out when he and Quinn were halfway down the walk. He turned back to Finn and shook his head in disgust, “I don’t even know who you are anymore. But if _that’s _your problem… Dude. That’s beyond fucked up. Burt, I’m going to head out with Kurt, stop by my mom’s. I think you and Carole might want to deal with this whole mess without an audience.”

Burt knew he was right. It would be better to get to the bottom of everything without Kurt and Noah there to make Finn defensive. Noah hadn’t needed to elaborate on what ‘that’ was meant to be. He’d seen the same thing the younger man had. He’d seen Finn go out of his way to avoid Kurt like his son had the plague.

When the SUV pulled away from the house, Burt led Finn inside. The boy was quiet, but he followed. When they got to the kitchen though, it was like Finn had forgotten anything that had happened outside.

He smiled for his mom, acting happy to see her and complimenting her on how good the food smelled and how starving he was.

Burt was a little shocked, so was Carole for that matter. But Finn didn’t comment when Burt told her that Noah and Kurt weren’t going to be there. He just took a seat at the table and started to load up a plate of food.

There was no dinner conversation, but it didn’t seem to bother Finn. Until Carole finally put her foot down and asked what happened. Burt told her.

Her immediate reaction to the explanation was that she wanted to scold her son. But taking one look at his carefree demeanor had her pausing. It wasn’t normal, the way Finn was behaving. It wasn’t the way someone should react to what Burt had said occurred right outside the house less than thirty minutes prior.

She gave Burt a look and a quick shake of her head letting him know that she didn’t want to confront things just yet.

“Finn, honey,” Carole asked cautiously, “Are you spending the night at home?”

“Some of the guys want to come over later,” he answered around a mouthful. “That’s cool, right?”

Carole nodded, murmuring that it was okay. She did add that she didn’t want them to get too rowdy, even if she wasn’t there. But he said they were just going to play some videogames or something.

He didn’t linger after dinner. Possibly because Burt stayed at the table instead of going to the couch. But it could just be that he had plans with his friends. Either way, Burt didn’t release the tension he’d been holding until Finn was out the door.

“I don’t know what to say,” Carole told him quietly when they were alone. “I don’t…”

Burt encouraged her to sit back down at the table with him. “You know I’m not trying to step on your toes with the whole parenting thing. But what I just saw tonight was a kid who scares me more than whoever took a knife to Kurt’s tires.”

He could see that his words upset Carole, but she nodded back so he continued. “I think he needs help, Carole. Really. I think he needs to see someone. The look he gave Kurt earlier, it wasn’t good. He wasn’t afraid of Kurt touching him, he was disgusted by it.”

He spent the rest of the night checking in with Kurt and Noah frequently until they pulled back in the drive. They’d decided to bring Beth back home, but Kurt had promised to head back over to Nana’s in the morning for a day at the park with Sarah.

Burt was supposed to be taking it easy, but even after the house was locked up and everyone had gone to bed, he was having a hard time settling down himself. At least he’d had a nap earlier, because the rest of the night had him latching on to any creaks inside the house and any movement from outside too. It was the worst sleep he’d had in a long time. And he hated the worry it caused.


	6. Chapter 6

“Who the hell are you?” Kurt exclaimed, clutching his bag to his chest. It was Wednesday and he’d just pulled into the drive from school. From his SUV he saw that there was a young man standing at the open front door, but he’d thought Noah had come home early.

He forgot that Noah and his dad were going into the cardiologist’s office that afternoon, so it couldn’t be him. The young man messing with the doorknob, who wasn’t actually all that young, looked up in surprise and quickly gestured down to the bag of tools on the porch.

An intruder wouldn’t scatter their ‘break-in kit’ around on the ground like that, would they? Probably not, but the guy had yet to say anything, and Kurt was two seconds from dialing 911 on the phone he’d already pulled out.

Norah’s voice stopped him.

She was holding Beth at her shoulder, and came into the doorway just far enough to tell Kurt that, “Honey, this is Tommy. Your dad hired him to change the locks on the door.”

Tommy nodded, but ducked his head and got back to work. Kurt edged past the mess and made his way inside, still eying the man warily.

“We already changed the locks last week,” Kurt told her, setting his bag down and taking Beth to rest on his own shoulder.

Norah explained that his dad had called someone that morning right after Kurt had gone to school. They’d put a rush on it when Burt explained what was going on.

Kurt watched her for a moment, noticing she was looking everywhere but at him by the end of her explanation. “What happened,” he asked.

She looked slightly uncomfortable with the question, but gave him a tight smile and suggested they wait until his dad and Noah got back. “He should be done soon anyway. I know he wanted to be here before Tommy finished up.”

As if on cue, the sound of a drill at the front door shattered the quiet. Beth noticed immediately, shifting in discomfort and if Kurt was right, she was about to start vocalizing her unhappiness with the noise.

He excused himself to take her downstairs, grabbing his bag on the way by. Hopefully Norah wouldn’t be upset that he chose to stay down there for a while.

She was right though, it wasn’t more than another thirty minutes before the basement door opened and Noah came down to check on him.

“Hey, babe,” Noah called softly as he came over to the couch for a quick kiss. He carefully extracted a sleeping Beth from Kurt’s arms and disappeared down the hall to lay her down.

“Did you know about the locks getting changed again?” Kurt asked when he came back.

Noah shook his head, “Only when I came to pick your dad up for the appointment. He said he wanted better security. They put in an alarm system to both doors upstairs and the one for down here.”

Kurt assumed Noah meant the basement door that lead to the side of the house, not the inside door. They never really used it before, and before the basement was done, Kurt’s room had blocked off access to it anyway. They could use it now, in theory, but it led to the opposite side of the house that the driveway was on. So, really… it wasn’t that useful.

“He didn’t come down here since I’ve been home.”

“Nah, Ma said he got it before you left school,” Noah assured him.

And sure enough, when Kurt made his way to the side of the bathroom wall, there in the hidden little alcove where the door was, there was a keypad on the wall with a green light showing. He thought it looked like the thermostat they had upstairs.

Noah had stayed on the couch, lounging and looking tired when he came back. It looked like it was a struggle to sit back up, but he dedicated himself to the herculean task and got up, leading Kurt back up the stairs.

“Where’s Beth?” His dad asked as soon as they were back in the living room. Noah held up a monitor and Burt nodded back before redirecting his attention to the paperwork Tommy had laid out on the coffee table for him. Norah had to leave but gave Noah and Kurt a quick kiss to each of their cheeks before heading out.

Kurt figured he’d have to wait on whatever it was she had been thinking about earlier. It sparked a little discomfort, because it _did_ look like something had happened. But he refocused on the new alarm system in front of them.

The locksmith explained in stuttering speech about the new keypads and locks. He looked a little nervous so Kurt pulled Noah down next to him thinking the man might relax if no one was standing over him.

When he’d first learned of Tina’s stutter and saw how embarrassed she got, Kurt had done some research on it. It wasn’t always because the person was nervous, but stress didn’t help it either. Then again, Tina’s stutter was fake. With Tommy, Kurt had no reason to think it wasn’t real. Especially since the man honestly looked a little embarrassed by it.

But his dad was doing a good job not drawing attention to it, and Kurt went to get them all something to drink from the fridge. It seemed to make the man happy.

He showed them the arming and disarming protocol for the alarms, walked Burt through setting a code, and how to set it up for auto arming at certain times. The test was pretty loud, but luckily the baby monitor stayed quiet.

They weren’t so lucky on the second test, and Tommy apologized about waking the baby. But really, with one of the alarms being in the basement, it was to be expected.

Burt told them to clean up and see if Beth would settle back down while he finished up with the payment and seeing the young man off. Carole was upstate visiting her brother for the night, if two hours away was considered upstate, so it was just the three of them for the evening.

After getting a decent dinner in and cleaning up the kitchen, the three of them sat back down at the table to talk.

Kurt and Noah didn’t have a table in their downstairs apartment, but he wondered if they _did,_ would it be the place they had ‘serious’ discussions too. It seemed that every time they met at the dinner table like this the talk was always serious lately.

That night was no exception. But it started out good. Burt’s visit with the doctor was, honestly, the best they could have hoped for. They were booking him in that Saturday for a less invasive procedure than actual heart surgery. He wasn’t as bad off as some patients were, and his doctor had already staffed his case with the surgeon, who agreed that Burt was a good candidate for a less intensive treatment option.

The reality of his dad having a heart condition sucked. But hearing that the doctors were optimistic left Kurt feeling a little better.

“The other thing I wanted to tell you two about probably won’t make either of you as happy.” Burt winced. “I wanted to give you the good new first.”

Both Noah and Kurt gave him twin looks of confusion so he just plowed right ahead.

“Noah, your mom went back to the old house today to grab a few more boxes before heading over here.”

And Noah knew she was doing that. She’d move the big things already; he’d helped her with that. But the old house had a lot of little things too. She’d boxed up most of it before she moved into her parent’s home, but she was slowly moving those boxes over a few at a time. He and Kurt had planned on taking the truck and the Nav that weekend and getting the rest loaded up, but with Burt needing to be at the hospital, those plans might have to change. Even if he wasn’t actually getting admitted as in-patient.

“When she got there this morning, someone had busted in the front door,” Burt told them calmly. Although he was the only calm one after that.

Noah and Kurt both stood from their seats, exclamations and denials coming out.

Burt huffed out a tired sigh, “Sit back down. Where are you gonna go? It happened last night, no one was in the house when she got there.”

Staying calm about the whole mess worked as he’d hoped it would, and he gave them a lightning fast smile when they both shut their mouths and sat back down in their respective chairs. To be a bit more accurate, neither boy had their mouths shut. But at least there was no more sound coming out. Good. He wanted to get through explaining this on the first try.

“The lock was broken when the door was kicked in, as far as we can tell. The windows in the front of the house were broken, there was spray paint inside and outside.” He gave Noah a sympathetic glance and continued. “Most of the boxes your mom had packed, the ones in the living room, they were dumped out. I know she doesn’t exactly need the dishes and plates and stuff, being at your grandparents now, but they were all broken. The couch, the tv, any furniture that was left… it’s beyond saving really.”

Noah took the information in with his head in a sort of daze. He believed what Burt was telling him, of course he _believed _him. But it was so crazy. How? Like, really… _How?..._

He knew his mom’s house hadn’t been in the best part of town, but seriously, they’d _never_ had a problem with actual vandalism. And something like what Burt was describing… that wasn’t just some kids blowing off steam and being a little destructive. That was some serious shit.

“I want to see it,” he said finally, determined. He believed the description, but he wanted to see the damage for himself. There’s no way it could really be that bad.

Burt gave them another sigh and leaned back in his chair. He didn’t make any moves to get up. “Kid, the spray paint…” He looked around the room trying to find the right words. “They didn’t just paint the walls… They left symbols. Words. Things that… ugly, hateful things that made the police think it was a targeted attack on you.”

“Talking about being gay?” Kurt asked quietly.

Burt nodded solemnly, “Yeah, there was some of that. And some of it was about being Jewish.”

Noah pursed his lips out and tried to take a deep breath in through his nose. He’d heard from Nana about how it’d been for her, growing up as a Jew fifty years ago. You’d think that after America fought against Nazis in World War II, the rest of the country would be _against _anti-Semitism_…_ not really, as it turned out.

His mom had seen less of that than Nana had, and he hadn’t really seen any of it. But he knew exactly what ‘symbol’ Burt was referring to. He shook his head on a deep exhale. “I still want to see it.”

Kurt reached out to squeeze Noah’s hand. He would be there for him, it wasn’t even a question.

Burt didn’t shake his head ‘no’ or tell them it was a bad idea. He just let them know that it was a crime scene, and that there was tape up everywhere.

“It Officer Anderson working, do you think?” Kurt asked. “Maybe we could call him and see if he can take us by.”

And that wasn’t a bad idea, according to Burt. Anderson was, in fact, working the case. He’d even combined the incident at the Hummel house with the incident at the Puckerman house. He wasn’t a detective, but he was the lead officer working the scenes.

Burt made the call, and ended up staying at their house while Anderson took the boys over that evening. He’d been just getting off-duty when he got the call, but he showed up still in uniform and rode as a passenger in Kurt’s SUV.

They met the detective who’d been assigned to the case at the house. And Anderson said it was good anyways because he’d still needed to go over the details of the case with the other man.

There’d been some questions for Noah and Kurt when they met the new man, and he was both polite and respectful about it all. Seeing a huge, neon orange swastika on the front of his mom’s house wasn’t what Noah had thought he’d be doing that evening. But there it was.

“We got lucky on one thing,” Anderson mentioned when the detective cut the tape and let them inside. “Your house is in a corner lot. So is the gas station across the street. They had video.”

Noah latched onto that and tried to let it distract himself from the mess inside. But he was still staring in horror at the absolutely trashed room when he asked, “Does it show who did this?”

“Yeah kid,” the detective answered. And Noah couldn’t remember his name, but the man’s tone was comforting.

He nodded back and put an arm around Kurt. “Why does it matter to them so much?” Kurt asked. “It’s not like there’s some evil gay agenda hiding in the shadows, trying to ruin their lives. We don’t even make out in public! I mean, I held your hand in the park the other day, but it was a hand! I just…”

Noah tucked Kurt a little closer, knowing that the anti-gay slurs on the walls were upsetting. But Kurt’s outburst was as contained as possible, he didn’t even raise his voice all that much. He was just hurt, and confused, and disheartened. Noah knew he was, because it was reflected in himself.

“People don’t need a reason to hate, son,” the detective told them. “Sometimes, most of the time, you’re not going to ever know why. If Anderson here hadn’t found the video, yeah, I might have needed to sit with it and try and figure it out. Try and find some suspects who would have motive for this. But we don’t need to, because we already know who they are.”

“There’s three of them,” Anderson added. “We can’t tell you who yet, but Detective Goldner already took the information to the judge today. He gave us a warrant pretty fast after he saw the video and the pictures from the scene.”

Noah cleared his throat enough to ask if they had been arrested yet. He’d seen enough of the place just standing in the entryway. He didn’t need to see the rest.

“That’s happening right now,” Detective Goldner assured him as he led both of the boys back out and put up another seal on the door.

“Their parents had to be notified, but we’ve had units watching their houses. By the time we get you two home, they should already be in holding.”

Kurt sent Anderson a grateful smile and watched as Noah shook the man’s hand in thanks. Both for the information, and for bringing him to see the house. He felt older than he thought he should have to. But something the officer said stuck in his mind.

“Wait, parents?” Kurt looked at both of the older men. “They were students? From McKinley?”

The confirmation from the men did nothing to put him at ease. All the bullying, all the torment from his freshman year, and most of his sophomore year too… it was bad, sure. But it hadn’t been as bad as this. The damage to the house, the anger he could feel just seeing the place, it had never been that.

Goldner said he’d stop by their house the next day after school, and Noah agreed to come home early from work to be there. He had a few more questions to go over with them, and he wanted to talk to Burt as well.

But he knew that the rest of the night was going to be shot for the seventeen-year-olds, so he wasn’t looking to keep them any longer than he needed to. Thankfully, Anderson took one look at them both and decided he’d be in the driver’s seat for the ride back to their house.

It was a silent drive, and he made sure they both had his personal cell number before returning them to Burt and heading out.

Noah took one look at Burt and Beth in the doorway before gently scooping Beth into his arms and heading downstairs with her.

Kurt on the other hand followed his dad into the living room, sitting down on the couch and waiting patiently for Burt to mute the television.

“Carole’s not visiting with her brother upstate, is she.” It wasn’t a question, but at the same time, he needed the answer.

“No, Kurt, she’s not.” Burt was watching his son closely. He was proud of the way Kurt could withstand the harsh side of reality and take it right on the chin, and keep standing. It was completely against what he would want for his son, though. If he could, he would put him in a bubble and keep all the negative shit from ever touching him.

But he couldn’t. In all honesty, Burt had been preparing for a day like this since Kurt was little. His son was gay. And even though the world was a better place for gay people than it was when Burt was young, he knew Kurt would experience something like this at some point. It was Lima, Ohio for Christ’s sake. It wasn’t California.

He’d just hoped that when the time came, it wouldn’t be someone his son knew. Someone he’d allowed into their lives.

“They didn’t tell us who it was, just that they were from our school…”

And Burt hated it, but he stayed quiet and let Kurt ask the real question he knew he had.

“It was Finn.”

Again, it wasn’t a question. Again, it needed an answer.

“Yes.”

Kurt let out a breath he didn’t even realize he’d been holding. “Did he say why?”

Burt let him know that Finn had been picked up just that night, and that there hadn’t been enough time since then and now to even ask that question.

When Kurt asked next what it was going to mean for him and Carole, his dad didn’t have an answer. But he told Kurt not to worry about that right then. That it wasn’t the biggest thing on the table.

“I understand now. Why you had the alarms put in.”

Noah came in the room then, sans Beth, and took a seat next to Kurt on the couch. He had already figured it out too, and didn’t say anything beyond ‘yeah’ when they filled him in anyway.

He’d called his mom when he was downstairs, Kurt could see that his eyelashes were still wet, but he didn’t point it out.

It was an awful night. Awful, and sad. And silent. There wasn’t much talking to be done. But the three men stayed in the living room for most of it. Even when the clock went past midnight, they stayed there in front of the tv, watching crab fishermen in Alaska brave the icy waters, looking to get rich.

Burt called Kurt out of school the next morning. Noah wasn’t going either.

When Norah came by that afternoon, she went down to the basement apartment to quietly collect Beth from the nursery. Noah and Kurt had relocated there sometime in the early morning hours, but they hadn’t made it further than their own couch.

She smiled softly at the sight of her son wedged into the back of the couch, holding tightly to Kurt in his sleep. She draped a blanket over them, but left them sleeping.

* * *

Waking up to Kurt in his arms was nothing new to Noah. Waking up on their couch, on the other hand, was. He’d spent the first few months at the Hummel house on Kurt’s old, lumpy couch, which hadn’t been fun despite his protests that it was fine.

But ever since they’d started sharing the bed, Noah made it a point to try and pass out there. Not that the new couch wasn’t comfortable. He’d spent a lot of hours lounging and relaxing there, he knew exactly how comfortable it was. So it didn’t really make sense that there was something digging into the small of his back now.

Seriously, there was something centimeters away from his spine and it was actually starting to hurt.

Carefully shifting forward and trying not to disturb Kurt while he was still sleeping, Noah reached underneath his back to see what the problem was. He let out a huff of amusement when he felt around the edges and confirmed it was a book. His life had taken a decidedly more domestic feel since last year if the mystery object in his couch was a book.

The though only served to make him look around the place and then at the sleeping young man in his arms. And then to think about his daughter sleeping down the hall. Yeah, he was fine with the domestic life.

A little quieter and less wild child than he figured he’d be at seventeen, but he couldn’t be happier, really.

Which was why his brain kind of did a short-circuit thing when he freed the book from the couch cushions and got a look at the title. He shot a quick look down to Kurt when he came back online, but no, he was still sleeping.

Making sure the blanket never uncovered the other boy, and when did the get a blanket?, he sat up and took his prize with him to the corner section.

The corner of the couch was his favorite, and it was accepted by all (read: Kurt) that it was his spot. He could tuck himself away with his feet under him, or he could stretch his legs out on the chaise or the other cushions, which ever direction he wanted. If was the best place to read those mechanic manuals Burt had given him, and was his go to place for that kind of thing.

So he figured it was just as well that he was sitting there as he cautiously cracked open the, very illustrated, book about sex. Specifically, sex between two men. To be fair, it _was_ sort of like a manual…

And just… wow.

He and Kurt had been, well, not having sex really. It depends on how one defines sex. If it had to require traditional penetration, then no. But there had been other things. A lot of really good other things. He’d known for a while that he liked guys, wanted to _do things_ with other guys. But he never really thought he’d get the chance. With Kurt he had. And it was awesome.

But some of the things in that book… that was like, the ‘advanced’ class on sex.

He tucked into his corner spot, turned on the table lamp, and got learning; knowing all the while he was probably going to get a little more turned on than was helpful when one’s partner was snuffling into the pillow, sound asleep.

It was about another hour when he wanted company in Kurt’s waking form, rather than a sleeping body. Kurt, god love him, could sleep like the dead. Not when Beth cried, though. When that happened, he woke up faster than Noah did. But any other time? Yeah. Dead to the world.

But Noah had learned the secret. If someone shook his foot, he was up in seconds.

Looking over at Kurt, peacefully in dreamland, Noah took a moment to admire the beauty of it all. And then stretched one leg out to kick insistently at his feet until he shot up to sitting, blinking sleep out of his eyes and looking around to see what was wrong.

His gaze finally landed on Noah, and his smug expression. “How come we’ve never tried this one?”

Noah held the book open and turning it so Kurt could see the pictures. Kurt wasn’t computing.

“Or…” Noah grinned and flipped a few pages, “Look at this one, it’s a pretzel. We haven’t done this one either.”

“Wha…”

“S’ok. I bookmarked it for later.”

Kurt dropped his shoulders back, more awake than he was a moment before. He looked like he was going to say something, but gave up. Shaking his head, he slashed through the blanket before tossing it in Noah’s direction and got up to start coffee.

It got a laugh out of the other boy who got up to join him in the kitchen. When Kurt turned on the machine, Noah snaked his arms around his waist and held him close. He was still filled with laughter, but he appreciated that Kurt was still sleepy.

“Too early in the morning to be embarrassed?” He asked, reaching his head forward to put a kiss on Kurt’s jaw.

“It's not morning. And I’m not embarrassed, Noah. Not with you.” Kurt wouldn’t say the same if someone else had found that book, but there was no point to it with Noah. He excused himself to the bathroom after adding, “But you’re going to need to start doing yoga with me if you think you’re doing _half _the things in that book.”

He grinned at the pout it got, but smiled sweetly when Noah turned away, grumbling, to sit back down in his corner seat and flip through some more pages.


End file.
